The Road Ahead
by Defina
Summary: She had lost almost everything dear to her in life, but now she was about to learn that you never know where the road ahead will take you. takes place after OUATIM, but Sands has his eyes in this one **Finished**
1. Chapter 1

**Hi! This is my first story here and I'm just trying to learn things, hopefully I've done everything right… If you are reading this story, and it seems familiar, you might have read it at a Johnny Depp board, I have had it there some time ago.**

**Should I have a disclaimer? Oh well… This work is purely fictional and created for my own amusement and hopefully to others too. I'm not making a red cent with this.**

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**CHAPTER 1**

Lina Evans stepped out of the empty store and locked the door behind her. It felt kind of pointless though, there really was nothing left there worth stealing. All the goods had been sold or given out. But the new owner of the place wouldn't like having any unwanted visitors there. Like kids vandalizing places or homeless people looking for a place to crash the night in.

'Well, this is the last time', Lina thought and took one final look at the shop. It had been her fathers for several years, and now selling it had been hard because it wasn't the only thing she had to give up. The store represented so much more, it was a part of her childhood.

She felt a lump rise in her throat but quickly swallowed it down and turned to leave. She walked along the narrow sidewalk. The sun was setting on the little Mexican town. People were hurrying home to their families, to have dinner and do their usual routines. Lina knew most of the people and greeted them. They greeted back and smiled, but she could see the empathetic looks in their eyes. She ignored them and hurried off, she didn't want to think about sad things right now.

The house wasn't very far from the store. And how could it, the town was really small. It was a fact that sometimes felt nice. People were friendly and knew each other well. One could always count on being helped if in trouble. On the other hand, it could cause anxiety since everybody also knew everybodys business. In fact, that was one of the reasons she never stayed there long on her visits. She liked to keep private things private, not share them with neighbors.

She turned on the street her house was on. Although it wouldn't be hers much longer. The same person taking over the shop had also bought the house. A nice American couple wanting to settle down in a house of their own. Though why in this particular town, Lina didn't quite understand. She wouldn't have moved to live there permanently even if she was paid. Sure she would visit, but staying?

The house was now in her sight. It was a nice little house really, perfect for a couple starting their own family. It had enough space but still it wasn't too big. She had spent a lot of time in that house. It held inside it a sea of memories; both good and bad. And now she was leaving it, taking her memories with her and giving room for someone else to make new memories. Happy ones, she found herself hoping.

Lina noticed there was a strange car parked aside the other side of the street, a little off from their house. She usually didn't pay attention to something like that, but this car was an American car and they didn't see many of those in this town. There was someone sitting in the car. When she got to it, she saw it was a brown haired man in a cowboy hat. She couldn't really see his face because he was wearing dark sun glasses, which was a little strange since the light was getting dimmer and dimmer by the minute. Not wanting to stare, she passed by hurriedly, but noticed him giving her a quick glance. Then he turned his attention back to wherever it was before.

She reached the house and didn't give another thought to him anymore. She was going to have a busy night with all the packing she had ahead of her.


	2. Chapter 2

**If you have seen this on the JD board, you'll notice that I've done some changes. Back then this was written in first person, but I think I like it better now that it is written from a third person point of view. I have also changed the tense. All and all I am now much happier with the result, hope others will like it too.**

**Oh, and before anyone starts wondering, Sands has his baby browns in this story. How? Go figure, it's a miracle!**

**And now, on with the show.**

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**CHAPTER 2**

Later that night, after a lot of carrying, arranging and rearranging, Lina looked around her in the living room. Almost everything was now packed in big cardboard boxes. She had piled all the boxes containing books, magazines, records etc. in one corner and boxes that had fragile objects in them, on the other wall. There were only a few little things left to gather up. Tomorrow the moving truck would come and the boxes and furniture would be loaded in it. Then they'd be on their way to the border and over it to the good old US. Her aunt had agreed to take at least a part of them, since Lina couldn't possibly fit them all in her tiny apartment.

She took the last remaining framed photo from the shelf and looked at it. It was a picture of her and her family, taken almost 15 years ago. She was sitting on horse with a big smile on her face. Her hair was a little lighter brown then and it was blowing around her in the wind. Mom was holding the horse from the reigns and dad was standing beside her, his arm around her shoulders. They were both smiling too. She remembered that day well. It was her tenth birthday and the horse was her surprise present. Its name was Pride and it was a beautiful black and white mare. She had been begging for a horse for ages with the persistence only a ten-year-old possesses. Sure, they had horses on the ranch, several of them, but she wanted one that was all hers and she didn't have to share with others.  
'I don't think I've ever been happier than I was on that day', she thought a little wistful.  
Lina snapped out of hers memories and put the frame into the last open box. But then she changed her mind and took it back in her hands. She took the photo from the frame and put it in her purse. She placed the empty frame back into the box and closed it. It was the last one, she was finished. She turned off the lights and leaped into bed. She was so tired from all the packing she didn't even bother to change clothes. She just shaped the pillow a little and closed her eyes to spend her last night in the house.

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Lina woke up in the middle of the night startling to sit up on the bed. She was having some strange dream about horses and riding.  
She got up from bed and trotted in to the kitchen to get a glass of water. She knew the house by heart so she didn't even have to turn on the lights. The darkness inside was soft and protective. That house was really the only thing she honestly loved there. She was a sad to let it go, but understood there was no sense in keeping it. What would she do with it? It would only remind her…  
She cursed in her mind. She had forgotten the water canister on the table and now the water was almost warm instead of refreshing cold. Lina still poured it into a glass and drank it up. She wondered about her dream. She hadn't been on the back of a horse in a long time, so it was kind of surprising she was dreaming about something like that.  
She shook her head as if to shed the dream. It must have been that picture that brought back memories.

She put the glass on the counter and planned to go back to bed when suddenly she heard a sound from the living room and stiffened to listen. It sounded like someone was walking there, quietly though, but she could still hear it.  
Then she saw a flashlight travel along the walls, furniture and boxes. Someone was looking around. Her heart leaped in to her throat.

Burglars!

Of course! This was a perfect opportunity for them. Everyone in town knew Lina would be alone in the house tonight. And because of the moving, everything would be conveniently packed up, ready to be moved out easily.

The light started to come toward the kitchen and before she even thought about it she had ducked behind the counter. She saw the light wandering on the closet doors behind and above her. She tried to keep her breathing quiet and hoped they wouldn't come to take a better look.  
Finally the light moved and she heard steps head back to the living room. The kitchen was dark again. She looked over the counter. What the hell was she going to do? Trapped in a house with a bunch of criminals was not a good place to be in. She realized she had to get out of the house and get help.

She chanced a careful peak in to the living room and saw it was empty. The burglar had apparently moved into either one of the bedrooms. Before she moved to the living room, she grabbed a knife from the knife holder a little hesitantly. At least she'd have some protection, although she wasn't too sure she could actually use it if push came to shove.  
She headed to the entry way and slipped on her shoes. Then she remembered something: she had her cell phone in her purse. She could call the police from it. She sneaked back in to the living room and found her purse still where she left it. She grabbed it and looked inside. She had remembered right, her cell phone was there. Right at that moment she heard steps coming towards behind her. They were coming back! She looked around wildly and finally jumped behind the sofa at the last minute. The burglar walked through the living room and headed to the second bed room. St! Now he was between her and all the exits. The good news was she didn't think there was any more of them. There were no other sounds coming from the house, so he must have been by himself. Lina tried to think fast what to do.

She waited for the opportune moment and then made a mad lunge at the other bedroom door. Somehow she got there without being noticed and closed the door quietly behind her. Thank God it had a lock on it. She sat down on the bed and dialed the local police station number that she kept on her cell phone just in case. After a few rings a man answered, naturally in Spanish, and Lina hurried to explain her business whispering. She only knew a few words in Spanish so mainly she just kept saying burglars and repeating the address, hoping they'd understand. Suddenly the line ceased and she was met with only silence. She kept repeating hello in to the phone with no response. When she looked at the phone she realized the battery had gone dead. 'Well isn't that just typical', she thought irritated. Oh why hadn't she recharged it!  
The door handle turned and stirred her from her lament. Someone was trying to come in. Lina froze. When the door wouldn't open, the handle was shaken harder. Lina dropped the now useless cell phone and stooped behind the bed, taking a better hold of the knife. The door was banged on.

In the middle of all of it she still found herself sarcastically thinking if he really thought she was going to open if he just banged on the door.

She looked around in the room. If he actually got in, there was no way out. All she could do was hope that the door would hold until the cops got there.  
IF they get here, she reminded herself. They might not have understood her after all. If that was the case, she could stay cooped up there and wait for help until judgment day.

She startled when the door was struck hard, but to her relief it remained shut. She strained her hearing when there was mumbling coming from the other side of the door. The burglar was obviously cursing, and with a very wide vocabulary, she might have added. Against her better judgment she chuckled softly. Guess the door was a little harder than it looked. Served him right. And on top of that, now she knew one thing more; the burglar was definitely an American.

Her musings were cut short when the door abruptly opened with such force that it made a crack in the wall it hit. Lina hit the floor on her stomach, lifted the bed sheet and crawled under the bed. She didn't think he had time to see her in the dark. She wasn't stupid, he knew someone was in the room and sooner or later he was going to look under the bed. But if he would even look first in the closet and after that under the bed, those extra seconds could be crucial.

She couldn't see his feet because of the sheet, but she could hear him walking around the room. He did go to the closets first. Meanwhile Lina's dislike for cleaning could really be seen under the bed. It was dusty and she had to suffocate a sneeze. She realized it had gotten dead quiet in the room. I couldn't hear anymore steps. She turned her head around. Where was he and had he heard?

She let out a scream when she felt her ankle was grabbed and she was pulled out from under the bed. Immediately once she was completely out of her hide her ankle was freed. Lina stumbled on to her feet and turned to face the burglar.

"Playing hide and seek?" he said in an amused voice. But Lina didn't say anything and instead just stared at him. He was middle height and lean, his hair was dark brown and almost reaching his shoulders. It was dark in the room and Lina couldn't make out his face but she had a feeling she'd seen him before. She wound her brain for a while until she stopped to an image of a car parked on the street. It was him, the man from the car! He had probably been observing the house when she saw him.

While she had been wracking her brain he had taken a couple of steps toward her. Lina remembered the knife she was somehow still clutching on to and raised it trying to look convincing.  
"Don't come any closer." Her voice certainly didn't sound convincing, not even in her own ears. The knife only seemed to make him even more amused.

"Now, what are you going to do with that?" he asked confidently.

She honestly didn't know what she would do, so she answered his question with one of her own. "What do you want?"

He was coming closer, forcing Lina to retreat a few steps. "What do I want?" He repeated the question. "Well, what I really hope right now is that you put the knife away."

Lina snorted. "You wish! Not going to happen." She might not be able to actually use the knife but there was no way she was going to give it up so easily.

"Oh really?" he arched an eyebrow.

He was even closer now and Lina found herself cornered. She bumped into a bedside table and had to catch her balance. With one swift move he had taken the knife, thrown it away and had a firm grip of her wrist. More out of instinct that planning she tried to punch him with her free hand but he ceased it easily and now had both her hands locked in his. He looked down at her with a little crooked smile.  
Then the frightening thought struck her. What if he wanted something else beside the stuff? She looked into his eyes and started to panic. Where was the help when she needed it!  
"My money's in my purse", she nodded to her handbag that was lying on the floor. "There's not much but just take it and leave me alone", she nearly pleaded.

This seemed to get his interest. He let go of her and picked up the bag. But before he had time to search for her wallet or anything else, the sound of police sirens cut through the silence of the night. Lina was relieved and scared at the same time. Help had arrived, and yet it was so far. There was no knowing what this guy would do when cornered. He went to the window and opened the shades a little to see if what she was silently praying for was true; the police cars turning on their street. One major fact to the plus sides of small towns: the police were never far.  
He turned to look back and his eyes were drawn to the cell phone on the bed. She had left it lying there. He looked back to her with a fierce expression.

"You didn't…?"

At that point Lina got her feet on the move and leaped on the bed and across it to get to the door. But he was quicker. Arms grabbed her from behind, one covering her mouth, and she was dragged out of the bedroom and toward the back door of the house. She was fighting his hold the best she could when she heard the cops knocking on the front door. She tried to shout and scream but all she could manage was pent-up sounds.He opened the back door and she saw that the same car that had stood on the street on her way home was now waiting at the back. She was dragged to it and unceremoniously shoved in to the backseat. While he hurried to the driver's seat, she tried furiously to get the door open. It probably had some kind of a lock system because no matter how hard she tried it wouldn't open. She screamed but there was no one there to hear.

He didn't turn on the headlights and the car pulled away from the house unnoticed, with her in it.


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 3**

He drove on as Lina staid quiet. It was mostly because she was too scared and shocked to really say anything. She could see they were heading northwest out of the town, but more specifically to where, she had no idea.

'From being robbed to being kidnapped. That's just… brilliant!' she thought. She knew there were no other towns or villages near their town; the ride from the airport always took hours, so they were soon in the empty desert. What if after being sure the cops weren't following them – which unfortunately she was pretty sure of too – he dumped her out here? Lina looked around in sudden panic trying to spot any sign of civilization, but finding none. It was just sand and bushes as far the eye could see. She looked back ahead and saw him looking at her through the review mirror.

"How's it going back there?" he asked. Lina didn't bother to answer and looked quickly away. She had no intention of speaking with him.

"Maybe I should introduce myself", he then said. "You can call me Sands. And you are..?"

Lina remained quiet though she was a bit bemused. Why was he telling her his name?

H must've realized he wasn't going to get a response out of her. He turned to pick up something from the seat next to him. It turned out to be her purse. What was he doing with it?  
The money. Of course. He was a thief after all. Though this gig must not have gone exactly as planned.

She watched him pull out her passport and flip in sight the photo page. "Nice mug shot of you… Lina", he said again with that crooked smile of his.

"Give me that", she said irritated and tried to grab it. But he pulled it away before she could.

"Temper, temper", he said laughing and putting the passport back in the purse. "I think I better hold on to this for now."

"Why don't you just let go?" I ask in a sudden whim of courage and frustration. "Kidnapping is a serious crime. Much more serious than theft." He didn't say anything, but he didn't look angry either that she was talking, so she dared to try and reason with him. "Look, I promise I won't go to the cops if you let me go. You don't need me!"

His neutral expression turned into one of faked shock. "What? And just leave you here in the middle of nowhere?" He shook his head. "Sorry darling, I can't take that on my conscience."

Lina looked at him incredulously. She snorted and leaned back against the seat, crossing her arms. Yeah right.

The conversation was over as far as she was concerned, and fortunately he seemed to think so too, because neither spoke after that.

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Lina didn't know Mexico very well, so it was no surprise she didn't know the village they arrived in to a little later. He stopped the car to a parking lot and pulled on a coat, fumbling with something for a while. She really didn't pay attention to it, she was too busy looking at the surroundings.  
The village was very similar to their town; an average Mexican town with a couple of stores, a post office etc. It was only a couple of hours past midnight so there weren't any people on the streets.

Sands finally got out of the car and opened the back door. Before she could even consider trying to escape, he opened his jacket slightly revealing a gun in his hand. Lina took a sharp breath. She really, REALLY didn't like guns.  
He beckoned her to get out of the car. When she stood up she noticed something strange. He was pointing a gun at her under his jacket but still both his hands were hanging on his sides. When she took a really close look, she realized the left hand must have been fake. She looked at him puzzled. Just what kind of a burglar as he?

"Now here's what we're going to do", he interrupted her thoughts in a quiet voice. He looked covertly around and then focused his eyes on her. "I'm going to have this gun pointed at you at all time and I won't hesitate to shoot if you decide to do something stupid", he stated matter-of-factly. "We are going to walk into that hotel, check in and you will stay nice and quiet through all of it. Got that?" he asked wanting to make sure she go his point.

Lina swallowed her eyes glued to the gun and muttered an affirmative answer, while wondering why the hell they were going to a hotel for.

"That's a good girl", he said smiling. "Now take your purse and we'll be off." He gave it to her and took his own bag. They headed to the hotel entrance.

Inside the night clerk checked them in. While Sands wrote the check-in card, Lina was painfully aware of the gun targeted at her. It wasn't a nice feeling at all. But to the outside they looked just an ordinary couple.

"Cash, check or card?" the brown haired, petite woman in the reception asked. Guess they must have had American tourists there too because her English was so good.

"Darling, would you get this? My wallet is somewhere in the bottom of my bag", Sands said to her with a smile.

Surprised she turned to look at him her eyes probably ready to pop out of her head. The bastard was really going to make her pay for the room? She gave him a glare but in the fear of the gun, took her wallet and paid the woman the amount. The hotel was a little ragged, and therefore cheap, so she was still left with some money.

"Thank you. You're room is on the third floor, just go to your right", the receptionist said handing the keys, and then added in a flirty way to Sands: "And if there's anything you want, anything at all, I will be here all night."

"I'll keep that in mind. Thank you and good night", he said smiling and winked at her. She blushed pleased.  
Lina looked at her appalled. What was she, crazy? But then again, she didn't have any idea just what kind of a man he was.

The elevator was out of order so they walked to the stairs. When they reached them he pointed toward the stairs with a clearly fake polite smile on his lips. "Ladies first."

Lina gave him an ugly look but started climbing. At some point she got a nasty feeling that he was staring at her behind but it might have been just her imagination. She was getting really worried about going in to the hotel room. She figured that since he didn't get much money from his planned gig, maybe he wanted different kind of gain from it. The thought chilled her bones but there wasn't much she could do as long as he had that gun. Lina glanced over her shoulder at him. He had a rather devilish grin on his face. Not a good look…

They got to the third floor and found the room. It was a modest room but from the appearance of the hotel, she hadn't expected a palace. Sands got rid of his fake arm and loosed his jacket too. Lina looked around the room not sure what to do. He didn't pay any attention to her, just went on with his own business. Finally she slipped into the bathroom and closed the door behind her. It was a small, windowless space. She turned on the water and leaned into the sink.  
What was happening to her? Last night she had everything packed and ready to go home. And now here she was in a sleazy hotel room with a man who first broke into her house and when the burglary went awry, kidnapped her. This was just too much. She shook her head and splashed some water on her upset looking face. She took a towel to dry her face but halted when she saw a huge cockroach on the bathroom wall. She looked at it disgusted. She had always hated the buggers. She hurried out of the bathroom.

Sands had spread some of his stuff on the other bed so she was left with the second one. At least there were two beds, she tried to think positive as she sat on it.  
She could see Sands digging something from his bag but didn't see what it was. He walked up to her bed and before she could pull away he caught her right wrist and cuffed it. The other end he attached to the bed.

"Just to make sure I can have my beauty sleep with a peaceful mind", he said with that lop-sided smile that she was starting to hate. She tried to control her anger and fear and kept her lips tightly pressed shut. "Oh", Sands send as if he had remembered something, "any screaming and I'll blow your brains out". Then he disappeared into the bathroom. Worriedly she wondered where he put the gun but she didn't see it anywhere.

He came back soon.  
"Sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite", he said as he turned off the light and then settled himself on the other bed. Lina frowned as she remembered the huge cockroach in the bathroom. Hopefully there weren't any more of them. She didn't want any roaches in her bed; neither six nor two legged ones. Lina shoot a poisonous look toward his figure. Thankfully he didn't seem to be interested in climbing into the same bed with her.

With one more look at her cuffed hand she gave in to her tiredness and lied down trying to find a comfortable position. She must've found one because she fell asleep surprisingly fast.

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Lina woke up to quiet noises coming from the room, and it took some time to realize she wasn't in her house anymore. Last nights events came flashing into her mind and finally leading into her being in that hotel room. Her cuffed wrist was sore as hell but she didn't open her eyes so she wouldn't have to confront him just yet. She remained still and tried to make it look like she was still fast asleep.  
The guy who had introduced himself as Sands was moving around the room doing something. After a while she heard him walk to the door and it opened and then closed again. She was about to open her eyes and turn when she realized something. She didn't hear any footsteps from outside. Did that mean he was still in the room? Yes, she could almost feel him watching her. Was he testing if she was really sleeping or not?

Lina kept her eyes closed and tried to keep her breathing slow and calm. It was difficult because it felt like there was a stampede heard of cows in her chest instead of a heart. When she really strained her hearing, she thought she could hear him breathing.  
Some time passed and when she still didn't hear any signs of him leaving, she started to feel uncomfortable and frustrated. She'd better make it look convincing that she was sleeping. She acted like she was stirring in her sleep and turned on her back. It was also partly because her limbs were starting to get numb. She lied there trying to keep her body relaxed. It seemed to do the trick and finally she heard the door opening again and this time he really stepped out closing the door behind him. His boots hit the floor as he walked until he was so far down the corridor she couldn't hear the sound anymore. She flung her eyes open and sat up. She looked around the small hotel room. The room was empty; all the stuff that had been lying around last night had now been cleaned up. He had probably packed his stuff and since she didn't see his bag anywhere, he probably took it with him.

What if he wasn't planning on coming back anymore? He really didn't need her anymore, he could've just hit the road and left her there to be found. The thought got her hopes up. Oh please let it be so, please! But she couldn't count on it. He might've just as well be coming back. Who knew what he planned in his criminal little mind.

She had to get out of there. There was just the 'small' problem of her hand being cuffed to the bed. She turned her attention to it. How was she going to get that little fucker off? First she tried to squeeze her hand trough it but all that did was cause her hand to hurt from all the pulling and twisting. She gave up and tried to think of another way. Maybe she could try to pick the lock. She had never tried picking any locks, but they did on TV all the time, didn't they? How hard could it be. She figured she would need something sharp. She turned again to check the room. But like she realized already before, he had cleaned up all the stuff and she couldn't see anything useful. Her handbag was too far away for her to reach it. She pulled open the bedside table drawer but it only contained the usual bible. Somehow she doubted praying would get her out of this.

Lina began to study the wood she was cuffed to. It wasn't that thick, but it still wouldn't budge when she attempted to pull it.

She needed more power. Maybe if she kicked it? The bed had seen better days – like the whole hotel. Maybe the wood had become more fragile during its many years.

She grabbed her shoe from the floor and slipped it on. She twisted herself into a better position so that she could kick the wood. She put a pillow over her hand just in case so she didn't accidentally hit it. All she needed now was a broken finger…

She started kicking it carefully at first and then with more force. Soon she would at least alert the neighbors.

After stomping for some time, she finally heard the wood break. Her foot was getting tired of being in the awkward position. She turned around and started bending the half-broken wood with her hands again. She grunted from the effort as the wood suddenly broke completely and she could slip the metal cuff away. She couldn't get it off completely of course and it was still hanging from her hand, but it didn't matter, she was free! She put on her other shoe too and headed to the door. She opened it just an inch and took a careful peak into the corridor. It was empty.  
Suddenly she remembered something and went back to grab her purse. For a short moment she wondered why he hadn't taken it with but then concentrated on her current venture.  
She came out and started walking as quietly as possible down the corridor. She saw the stairs and started to go down. It didn't take very long until she was downstairs. She noticed the clock on the wall. It was still very early and people must've been still sleeping because she couldn't see anyone around. Even the annoying woman in the reception was gone. Lina got closer to the lobby café and peeped around the corner to see into it. She spotted him immediately since Sands was the only person sitting in the cafeteria. He was sitting in front of the window with his back facing to where she was, drinking his coffee and reading a newspaper.

She pulled back and wondered how she was going to get past him. Suddenly the double doors on the opposite wall from her opened and a waitress came out carrying a pot of coffee. She quickly hid her right hand behind her back so she couldn't see the cuffs. She gave her a strange look, probably wondering what she was doing standing around in the corridor. Lina waited until she was gone and looked at the doors where she came from again. It must've been the kitchen. If she could just get there, then there had to be a back door she could sneak out from.

She took another peak into the café. He was still sitting there, concentrating on his paper. The waitress walked to him and he raised his eyes from the paper. He nodded and she poured more coffee into his cup. They started to talk about something, she couldn't hear what, but he was smiling a very charming smile and she was blushing a bit but smiling too. It seemed the guy was a hopeless flirt, but apparently women liked him. Well, at least it was working to Lina's advantage as it provided a distraction.  
Her heart was racing a thousand and one. She took a deep breath, thinking it was do or die, before walking almost on her toes across the lobby as quickly as she could without actually running. She kept her eyes on him, afraid that he might turn around any second and see her.  
But he didn't. The waitress instead noticed her. She frowned a bit. She must have looked really silly. She raised her finger on her lips and slightly shook her head as a sign for her to be quiet. She looked confused, but nodded quietly so that he didn't notice it.

Lina made it to the doors leading to the kitchen and stepped in. She took a steadying breath as she looked around. The kitchen was hot and full of cooking steams. The chef's were preparing breakfast for the hungry customers of the hotel. The smells made her stomach growl but she ignored it. She didn't have time for it now. The two cooks give her a strange look as she walked trough the kitchen trying to spot a door that would lead out.

"Can I help you?" someone's voice came behind her startling her slightly. She turned around. It was that waitress. She hid her right hand again and hoped she didn't notice it.

"Um, I was just looking…" she paused thinking what to say. The woman looked nice, maybe she could trust her. "Well actually, the thing is I have to get out of here. Could you help me? Is there some way out of the kitchen?"

She looked slightly suspicious but her pleading look must have convinced her. She smiled a little. "Sure. The back door's this way."

She led her to it and Lina looked at her grateful. "Thanks, you don't know what this meant to me."

"It's ok, no problem", she waved off her thanks.

Lina opened the door and stepped outside. The door opened onto an empty alley on the side of the hotel. Although it was early, the sun was already coming up, but the air felt refreshing after the heat of the kitchen. She didn't know exactly where she was going to go, but she didn't care as long as it was as far away from there as possible.

"Bye, and thanks again", Lina said to the woman. She just smiled and closed the door behind her.

She started half-running along the alley in relief taking over her. Now she only had to figure out how to get help. Maybe she should head straight to the police and tell them what happened. Then she would probably get a lift back into her own town and from there back home to America.  
She was only a few feet away from the street when suddenly a car stopped right in front of her with its brakes screeching. She recognized it immediately and stopped so quickly, trying to turn back around at the same time that she lost her balance and fell down on her back. Her mouth fell open in amazement and terror. How could he be there! Sands opened the car door and got out. Lina stumbled on her feet and started desperately running back to where she came from. Then she heard a click and Sands' voice.

"If you don't want to get a bullet in you, I suggest you stop right there." His voice was hard and determined.

Lina stopped and slowly glanced over her shoulder. From the corner of her eye she could see him standing a few feet away, pointing a gun at her.

Her freedom seemed to have been very temporary.

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**R&R please!**


	4. Chapter 4

I'm really sorry I haven't updated! But here is a longer chapter for anyone who's interested.

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"Put your hands up", he ordered. Lina turned her head back and carefully raised her hands in surrender. The cuffs were still dangling in her right hand. She was scared but more than that she was disappointed. How did he do it? How did he know she was there?

She heard him approach her. He swerved her around and almost violently pushed her against the wall. With one hand he grabbed my throat and held the gun to the side of her head. He was very close, staring her dead in the eyes. Lina could see he was really angry.

"Would you care to tell me exactly what you're doing out here?" he said through clenched teeth. He was squeezing her throat so hard she couldn't manage to form any words. She felt her lungs fight to get enough air. When she didn't answer he continued.

"That… was a BIG mistake, Lina", he said and squeezed even a little harder. Her lungs felt like they were gong to explode. Maybe he was going to kill her for trying to escape. That's what he had threatened to do earlier before getting into the hotel. He had let her understand that he had no problems in shooting her is she caused him trouble. Lina felt panic rising inside her.  
Just when she thought she couldn't take it anymore he let go of her throat and hit her hard across the face. Lina's head banged nastily onto the brick wall and for a moment she saw stars. Her knees gave in and she slid down against the wall. He watched as she lied on the ground coughing and greedily sucking the air in.

"You know, you did save me a trip back upstairs", he then said with a slightly lighter voice. "But it's your fault I didn't get to finish my breakfast. And I always get a little pissed if I don't get a proper breakfast."

Lina steadied her breath on the ground, not daring to look up to him.

"Well darling, I think we should get going." He suddenly gripped the back of her shirt and started to drag her to the car like a rag doll. She tried to get up on her feet but she only managed to help a little with her feet and hands so that she didn't drag on the ground. They got to the car but she didn't have the courage to fight him when he took the empty cuff and pulled it through the hand lean on the door and then took her left hand and cuffed it too. She was now attached to the door. He shoved her to the back seat of the car, picked up her bag that was lying on the ground near the car. He threw it to the back seat and closed the door. All Lina could do was watch in shock as he quickly ran to the other side of the car, jumped in and sped off.

As they left the village behind, Lina looked out of the window, not knowing where or how far the road ahead was taking her.

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She must've either fallen asleep or passed out because she startled awake to the car bouncing from a bump on the road. Immediately as she opened her eyes she could feel she was going to have a massive headache. Also her other cheek felt like it was burning. When she tried to touch it, she was reminded of the fact that she was tied to the door. She looked down at her hands and gasped when she saw they were covered in dried blood from small scratches and bruises all over them. That must have happened when he had dragged her into the car.

"Nice to see you're awake darling." Lina turned to look at the front seat and saw Sands smirking at her. She looked outside the car and saw they were driving on an empty road somewhere in the middle of nowhere. The sun was shining on full blast and he had rolled the front windows open. Despite that it was hot in the car.

"Where are we?" She asked trying to keep her voice calm.

"What does it look like? This is no man's country we're in, darling", he said looking around him.

Lina was really getting tired of him calling her darling when she was anything but that to him. But she thought it was better to just let it past.

There was a long silence and all that could be heard was the car tires rolling on the asphalt. Lina stared out the window in her thoughts. Her mouth was dry and she was desperate for some water. She didn't dare to ask for any, so she tried to think about something else. What did he want from her? Clearly he wasn't going to let her go even if she hadn't tried to escape. He could've just left her in the hotel room. He would have been long gone by the time she would have been found. She would have gone back home and he could have gone on about his business. Why hadn't he done that? What was the purpose of this peculiar "road trip"?

Her thoughts were interrupted when she noticed Sands push a CD in the player and push play. Hard rock started to play.

"You mind?"

Lina saw he was slightly moving his head in the rhythm of the music and tapping his fingers on the wheel. She was surprised he even asked. He must've taken her silence as an agreement and turned up the volume some. At least his music taste wasn't all bad. It was a familiar song to her and somehow hearing it in this strange situation gave her comfort.

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They drove on what seemed like hours, and it probably was. They didn't speak a word and Lina mostly just stared at the desert outside flashing before her eyes. He was driving fast. Lina dozed off every now and then and always woke up when the car hit the dents in the asphalt, but finally drifted into a deeper sleep.

She woke up to the car slowing down. The first thing she noticed was that it had gotten dark and it was raining hard. She could barely see the road even though the wipers were on full speed.  
The car slowed down until it stopped on the roadside. Sands turned off the engine. All she could hear was the rain pounding on the roof of the car. He lit a cigarette and rolled down the window an inch. Somewhere not very far there was a flash of lightning and soon came the sound of thunder.

"Looks like we're not getting any further tonight", his voice broke through the silence in the car. Lina looked at him. With the cigarette between his teeth he started to go trough his brown bag placed on the passenger's seat. He pulled out a package, unwrapped it revealing a sandwich. He threw the half smoked cigarette out of the window and began eating. When she looked at him eating she remembered that she hadn't eaten anything since the day before. He noticed her hungry looks.

"You want some?"

When Lina nodded in response he held out the sandwich to her. Lina didn't move since her hands were tied. He brought it even closer.

"Go on, take a bite then", he said offering it to her.

Lina looked hesitantly at him and then at the sandwich. She didn't like the thought of eating out his hand, but her hunger won the inner battle and she leaned in to bite the sandwich. She took a big chunk. It was chicken and mayo, her favorite. She devoured it quickly enjoying the taste. Meanwhile he took another bite himself and then offered it to her again. This time she didn't hesitate and bit half of what was left. It was a big piece and she chewed on it for a long time.

"Wow, leave some for me too", he said sounding amused. Lina gave him a sharp look. He whipped up a bottle from somewhere and pulled off the cork with his teeth. He took a swig and then offered it to Lina. She was thirsty after the sandwich and sitting in the hot car all day. She brought her lips to the mouth of the bottle. He tilted it and the liquid flowed into her mouth. It was tequila. Usually she didn't like it so much but now she just tried to swallow it all. She took a long gulp. Some of it spilled around my mouth and after he pulled the bottle away she tried to lick her lips to clean them. He watched her, the turned away and took a long gulp from the bottle. Finally he put it away.  
He rolled the window up again and started to make his way to the back seat. Lina stiffened. What was he doing? She was a little scared of him, especially after what happened that morning. Maybe it was stupid but her pride kept her from showing it to him. So she kept her head straight and followed what he was doing from the corner of her eye. He pulled a folded blanket from the back dashboard and started to kick off his boots. He took off his coat jacket too and lied down on the seat pulling the blanket on. The car's back seat was huge but he still bent his knees since she was taking up a part of the bench. Though not a big enough part in her opinion. She pressed as close to the door as possible.

"You're not much of a talker, are you?" he asked after a moments silence.

She staid quiet not even bothering to look at him. She wasn't interested in having a conversation with him. Time passed again before he spoke again.

"You haven't asked how I knew you were on that alley this morning."

This time she turned to look at him. He looked back at her with a smile on his lips. How he had found out she was getting away was something she had wondered during their little ride.

"Well how did you know?"

His smile widened. "I saw your little tiptoeing act across the lobby from the reflection. One of the benefits of sitting by the window." He was clearly pleased with himself.

Lina looked at him stupefied. Of course. It sounded so ridiculous that it must've been true. Why did an otherwise slightly dingy hotel have to wash their windows so well? She felt like banging her head on the window but it already hurt enough even without that.

She couldn't keep looking at his self-content smirk and she turned away. She pressed her head against the window screen having an unreal moment. How did she get here? And more importantly, how was she going to get out of there, preferably alive?

The nights in the desert were surprisingly cold and now that the engine wasn't running anymore, the coldness started to creep inside the car too. Lina was only wearing a short sleeved shirt and she could feel the skin on her arms rise into goose bumps. She shivered a bit and looked outside. She had never been afraid of the thunder; actually she'd kind of liked it. But now in this situation; somewhere in the desert in the middle of nowhere, cuffed up in a car with a man who seemed capable of doing just about anything, she was a little scared. A lightning struck again somewhere near and she jumped a little when the thunder boomed very loud. She closed her eyes.

"Afraid of the thunder, darling?" Sands asked.

"No", she answered snappily. And even if she was, she wasn't going to tell him. But what she couldn't hide was the fact that she was getting really cold. Although she tried to will it away, she was shivering all over.

"It's getting pretty cold out here", he said. "I only have one blanket but I could share it. I'm not completely without a heart, you know?"

She looked at him coldly. She wasn't so sure of that. The blanket looked invitingly warm but even the thought of getting close to him was out of the question. She considered it though for a long time.

"Hmm, what do you say?"

Her body won over her mind and she agreed with a small voice. He sat up and dug a key from his back pocket. He went for the cuffs and took them off. He looked at my damaged hands. The blood had dried ages ago but they still looked nasty. He pulled back to his own side of the seat and as she rubbed her wrists together she watched him take out a first-aid kit from somewhere under the front seat. He opened it and pulled out a cotton handkerchief and put some antiseptic on it. Then he turned to her with it.

"Give me your hands", he said. Lina hesitated again but then held them out. He took her left hand and started to clean it surprisingly gently. The cuts hurt though and she winced a bit. He moved to the other hand.

"They look bad but they'll heal quickly", he said. Lina wondered if he was reassuring her or himself, and why.

When he was done and her hands looked a lot better, he put the first-aid kit away. They sat opposite of each other, Lina kept her eyes on her hands. After a while he suddenly lifted his hand and touched her cheek in almost gentle way. She startled a little.

"Sorry to have bruised your pretty face earlier, but you really shouldn't have done that." Lina turned her head away a little to look at the steering wheel, the back of the front seats, out the window. Anything really but look at him. He pulled his hand away. "Try it again and I'll kill you." Now she turned to face him. His soft voice and the expression on his face clashed with his words but she had absolutely no doubt that he would. He would kill her.

"Come on then. Let's get some shut-eye", he said lying back down, acting like they had just been talking about the weather. She just sat there staring at him patting the space next to him. "Don't be shy darling, lots of room here" he grinned.

That's not what she thought he had meant by sharing the blanket. There was no way she was going to sleep right next to him. Her thoughts must've been visible in her face.

"Look, the way I see it you have two choices: you can either sit there and freeze, or you can be nice and comfy under the blanket."

Lina remained in her sitting position. "No thanks."

"Ok, suit yourself", he shrugged, got into a comfortable position and closed his eyes.

She listened to his breathing getting deep and steady. She was left staring out of the window into the pitch black night that was enlightened only by flashes of lightning every now and then. The sky was crying hard but she didn't contribute even a single tear to it. The only thing in the situation she could control was her own behavior. She wasn't going to break into tears, she had that much self-respect left that she wasn't going to cry in front of him.

She tried to find at least a half-decent position but it was so cold that she couldn't fall asleep. So instead she started to unwind the tangled thoughts in her head. She was free from the cuffs now but she quickly abandoned the thought of leaving the car. It was dark, it was raining and thundering. She wouldn't know what direction to go to and whether there was civilization anywhere near. Either Sands would catch her or she would get lost in the desert. The result of both alternatives would probably be the same: her premature death.

Why was he dragging her with him? That was the question picking her brain. She was completely useless to him. She couldn't think of any explanation for him not letting her go. At first there obviously was a reason why he needed her: to get some leverage in case the police would give chase to them.  
Were the police looking for them? She had a bad feeling they weren't. Maybe they had checked out the house, found nothing out of the ordinary and just signed it off as a prank call.  
Her thoughts returned to her kidnapper again. It would have been so easy for him to just leave her to the hotel. He didn't seem to have any interest in her, but for that she was only thankful. If he didn't like her, he wouldn't try anything.

Suddenly she hung onto that last thought.

If he didn't have any interest in her, he wouldn't try anything. That made sense. And if that's how it was, it should have been safe to sleep next to him.

Lina looked at his sleeping figure in the dark. It was like the blanket was calling to her; it looked so warm and soft. Now that she was at least considering the idea, the coldness around felt even worse.

Suddenly a lightning hit somewhere really near. She barely held back a scream. That was the last push. She took off her shoes and started to crawl next to him. He was lying closer to the edge of the seat so she chose the other side. Not wanting to wake him up she tried to pull the blanket up as carefully as she could to get under it.

"Had a change of heart?" his sleepy voice asked.

Lina halted for a moment but then quickly slid under the blanket. "Hmph…" she just mumbled an answer. She turned her back to him and remained as far away from his body as possible – even though he was wonderfully warm. He changed position and turned his back to her too.

"Goodnight, darling"

She mumbled something in response, not really even words. It felt so good to be under covers that she couldn't stop the smile forming on her lips. She warmed up quickly and fell into a dreamless sleep.

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**R&R, please!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Again, apologies for not updating. And a big thank you to those who have reviewed, much appreciated! **

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She woke up hours later in the same position, from what felt like a coma. It was getting a little TOO warm. She blinked for a while to let her eyes get used to the light. The sun was already up and glowing through the window. It smelled like sun, sleep and sweat in the car. The blanket was still half wrapped around her but she quickly realized it wasn't the reason why she was feeling so warm.

Sands' body rested pressed firmly against her back. His arm was resting on her waist and his leg was over hers.  
She stilled, trying to think how to get away from the awkward situation as quickly as possible. She hoped he didn't wake up.

But of course he did. His hold around her just tightened and he sank his face in her hair. She could feel his breath on her neck and it sent small shivers down her spine.

"Morning", he said and she could hear from his voice that he was smiling. His hand roamed down from her stomach to her thigh and then back up. It reached her breast and settled on it.

She realized now that she shouldn't have trusted her reasoning last night. Where did the stupid idea come from that he didn't like her? He was a man, he liked everything that had breasts!  
But before she even attempted to push him away he suddenly stopped and sat up. She exhaled as the tension in her body eased.

He turned to look at her and there was a strange expression on his face. He looked a little confused, like he'd just awoken from a sleep he had thought was real. It was such a strange look because until now he had been looking nothing but confident and cool. He turned away and ran his fingers through his hair sighing. Then he pulled his boots on and stepped out of the car.

Lina got up too and put on her shoes but she didn't get out of the car. She saw him light a cigarette. What had made him stop his passes? Surely it wasn't because of morals or because she wouldn't appreciate his advances. It was definitely best if she just staid as far away from him as she could under the circumstances.  
She decided to get out of the hot car and opened the door. She rose on her toes and reached her hands towards the sky stretching her stiff limbs. There was also another thing that required attention too. There was a bush about 20 feet away from the car and she started walking towards it.

"Where do you think you're going?" she heard Sands ask behind her.

She paused and turned around. "I'm going to the little girls' room, if you don't mind", she said pointing her thumb over her shoulder to the bush. He nodded and she went to relieve herself.  
When she came back she saw he was holding two apples. He threw the other one to her. They ate their breakfast in silence and when they were finished he pulled out the car keys from his back pocket.

"Time to go, get in", he nodded toward the car.

Lina really didn't want to but she went to the back door anyway. She couldn't stay here in the desert, could she?

"No, you're sitting in front."

She glanced at him on the other side of the car and then opened the front door. She didn't want to fight, although she would've rather sat on the backseat.

They drove for about two hours with nothing but the radio shouting. Sometimes she carefully turned to look at his profile. He had a nice jaw line and a straight nose, he was actually very good looking. If you forgot about his criminal character, which Lina wasn't anywhere near forgetting.

Sands must've felt her look because he turned to face her. Lina quickly turned her head away and looked outside.  
After a couple of minutes she saw some road signs: 8 miles to the next town. Soon after it he pulled the car aside of the road again.

"What now?" she asked hesitantly. She got no response.

Not knowing what was going on she watched him get out of the car and go open the trunk. She couldn't see what he was doing but after a moment he came to open her door.

"Get out."

"Why?" She looked at him suspiciously.

"Just get out, okay?" he said looking like he didn't appreciate her arguing.

She did as he said and got out. He took a hold of her hand and led her to the trunk. When they got to it she could see he had pulled out some rope. Before she even realized he cuffed her hands again, this time behind her back.

"Hey! What are you doing?" she protested.

"I have some business to take care of in town", he answered. "You'll be safer here, I mean I don't want you getting any stupid ideas like yesterday", he said referring to her escape attempt.

He tied her feet with the rope and then tied a scarf around her mouth. She just let him do it, she was just numb. And it wasn't like she could've stopped him even if she tried. Finally he finished and stood in front of her. She looked up into his eyes.

"Sorry darling, but you haven't really given me a reason to trust you."

He pushed her into the trunk. Lina's eyes widened from fear as he slammed the trunk shut. Soon the car was moving again.

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Riding in the trunk wasn't exactly the most comfortable way of traveling. It was dark and cramped and every time the car turned she managed to painfully hit some part of her body to the walls. Luckily there were only those 8 miles left to the town. Soon the car stopped and she heard him slam the car door shut and walk away. She tried to wiggle but of course it didn't get her anywhere.

He was gone for a long time. Three, four hours maybe. She couldn't really tell the time, in the small, dark trunk it seemed to stand more or less still. She was alone with her thoughts.  
She wondered what kind of business he was taking care of. Or on second thought, maybe it was better she didn't know. Considering what she knew about him, she was pretty sure it was nothing nice like buying post cards.  
When her arm was getting numb she struggled and turned on her other side. She tried to listen to any sounds coming from outside but she didn't really hear anything, only an occasional car driving by. The car was probably parked in a quiet place. But even if the car would be in the middle of a big crowd no one would still know she was caught in there.

But she couldn't just give up! There must've been some way out of there. She lifted her tied feet and started to kick the trunk roof. It was difficult and her knees were hitting on the roof too. After doing it for some time without any results she gave up. She was sweating, her feet were hurting and her knees were going to be black and blue tomorrow. She hoped he would come back soon or she was going to fry.

Right then she heard sounds from the distance. It took a while before she realized they were gunshots. What was even more worrying was that they were coming closer. The shots continued and then she started to hear men's voices shout in Spanish. Suddenly someone shot a gun right next to the car. The car door was opened and the engine started. The car sped off so fast that she crashed against the trunk wall. Something thudded very close and when she turned to look to her feet, to the direction of the sound, she saw a small bullet hole in the wall. They were shooting at the car!

The car made several hard turns and she tried to get some support from the walls with her feet and back so she wouldn't get knocked around so much. Whoever the shooters were they were following the car. Could it be the cops? Would they shoot at the car?  
After endless turns and high speeding, the car started to slow down until it finally came to a full stop. Someone got out of the car and soon the trunk lid opened. Lina didn't know how to feel when she saw it was Sands opening it. She had hoped it would be the police, but then again it might have been someone worse than Sands – even if it was hard to imagine someone worse than him.

The sun was shining straight behind him so she couldn't see his face, She could only see he was wearing his dark sun glasses again. She squinted her eyes a little because of the light. He lifted her out of the trunk and set her on her feet in front of him. He put his hands on both of her shoulders and looked her through as if to check that she was alright. Lina was feeling slightly perplexed and uncomfortable and she kept looking somewhere over his shoulder. Then he came even closer into her personal space, but just as she was about to pull away he started to untie the scarf around her head. He took it off and Lina pulled a long breath of air in her lungs. He opened the rope from her feet and fumbled a while with the knots. Lina looked around and saw they were outside the town again. He apparently managed to shake whoever was on his tail. Finally he took off the cuffs too.

"What happened?" Lina build up the courage to ask.

"Like I said, just some business I had to take care off", he grinned.

She bent down to look at the hole in the trunk. "I don't think your "business associates" were very keen on you", she said not quite able to hide a sarcastic tone.

He took a look at the hole too. "Damnit! Those fucks! I don't like it when they blow holes in my cruiser", he said clearly irritated. (Cheesy reference to PotC. Sorry…)

Lina rolled her eyes.

"I'll have to get that fixed once…" He didn't finish the sentence and Lina's interest picked up. Was he about to say something that involved her future? But he didn't mention it again. "Well, hop in the car, darling, we better get moving", he just said.

This time she went straight to the front door. He drove on and they headed towards the endless desert again.

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Around 8 pm he stopped the car in front of a deserted looking motel on the roadside. It looked a bit eerie and images of the Bates-motel in the Psycho-movies flashed in Lina's mind. He picked up the bags from the backseat and told her to get out. She walked behind him toward the building.

"What are we doing here?"

"We need to fill our supplies and I need a good night's rest", he said putting emphasis on the word I.  
They entered the building and a man walked in from a backroom. So it wasn't deserted after all. Lina looked at the man. He was short, an inch or two shorter than her, he had a big stomach and small, beady eyes in his sweating head. She was glad he didn't resemble Anthony Perkins at all, that would have been creepy. His face lit up when he saw Sands.

"Ahh, Senor Sands! So good to see you!" He spoke English with a really strong accent. He stepped out behind the counter and came toward them with his hands reached out. He and Sands shook hands.

"Nice to see you too, Raulo", Sands said smiling.

"How long has it been? Two, three years?"

"Too long amigo, too long. I see you've still got the place running", Sands said taking a look around.

"Well, you know how it is. Business is mostly slow, but I manage", he laughed. "But who is your beautiful companion?" Raulo turned his eyes to Lina and looked her up and down very thoroughly. Lina met his gaze coolly.

"Listen, we need a room for the night. You've got one?" Sands asked ignoring Raulo's question. For some reason he was being polite. There was really no need to even ask since the place was about as crowded as the freaking North Pole.

"Of course! For you, always!" Raulo said turning back to Sands. He went behind his counter and took a key from the wall and put it on the table.

"Here you go. Room number 7, the best one we have."

"How much do I owe you?" This time Sands pulled out his own wallet.

"Oh, no no no!" Raolo put his hands up. "Business might be slow but I would never charge a friend."

"Muchas gracias, Raolo." Sands put his wallet back and took the key and their bags again. He pointed toward the corridor. "This way, darling."

Lina began to walk in front of him. She glanced at Raolo over her shoulder and he gave her a suggestive wink.

But what she didn't see was him picking up the phone as soon as they were out of sight.

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She stopped in front of room number 7 and let Sands open the door.

"After you", he said stepping out of the way. Lina entered the room and he closed the door behind them. It was one of those typical motel rooms. Small, but surprisingly clean. There was a bathroom on the right and closets on the left. The room was dominated by a huge bed.

"Why couldn't you get a room with two beds?" she asked displeased.

"Because there aren't any", he said simply, starting to unpack some of his stuff.

She sat on the bed. At least it was soft. There was a TV in the corner and she turned it on. A guy in a suit was giving a weather report in Spanish. It looked like it was going to be sunny for the next few days. So what else was new?

"I'm going to go find something to eat", Sands said.

She turned to look at him just to see him pull out the cuffs again.

"Oh no, please! Not those!" she said quickly and instinctively put her hands behind her back.

He stopped to look at her. Right now she would say or do anything to avoid the cuffs. Her wrists were still sore from the previous times.

"Look, I don't need those. I'm not going to run away. There's nothing out here anyway, where would I even go?" He didn't look convinced so she went on. "I really need to get a shower. I'm sweaty and dirty… please! I promise on my mother's grave I won't try to run away." She was pleading now.

He seemed to think about it and she sighed in relief when he put the cuffs away. "Okay. I'll be back soon."

She leaned back on the bed when the door closed. Thank god! She really didn't want to be cuffed again.

There was a towel right next to her on the bed. She stood up again and began to undress. It was better to take the shower while he was gone.  
When she was convincing him she had realized herself too that trying to escape really did no good for her at the moment. Even Raulo, the only other person here besides them, was his friend. He certainly wouldn't help her.

She folded her clothes on the bed, took the towel and headed to the bathroom. She closed the door and was pleased to see it had a lock. She locked it and shook the handle just to make sure. She drew the shower curtain aside and turned the water on. There was no hot water but she tried to ignore it, stepped under the cold water and let it run over her head. It was refreshing. She grabbed the soap and began to wash herself.

After she was finished she turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. She started to dry herself on the towel squeezing the water out of her long hair. She stopped when she saw her reflection from the big mirror on the wall. She stared at her image. She looked somewhat pale and tired under her tan, maybe a little scared too. There was a small bruise on her right cheek where he had hit her. It was fading though. There were bruises on her body from the trunk-ride, but her knees weren't that bad. Her eyes looked back at her very serious.  
Her father had once said she had her mother's eyes. She had been flattered because she had thought her mother was the most beautiful woman in the world. Lina could remember the warm look in her eyes every time she had looked at her daughter. She had been a very sweet woman, always kind and polite to everyone. Well, at least until…  
She stopped her trail of thoughts and wrapped the towel around me. It wasn't the time or the place to go walking down memory lane.  
She unlocked the door and walked over to the bed. Sands hadn't come back yet. She went to the window and pushed the curtain aside a little to look outside. All she could see was the house and behind it nothing but desert. She looked at the house; Raulo probably lived there. She remembered the Bates-motel again and left the window shivering. She went to her purse and got her make-up bag. She went in front of the mirror and started putting on some mascara.

It wasn't until she was almost finished that she suddenly realized what she was doing. Why was she putting make-up on? She looked at her make-up bag. She had her usual small storage in it; mascara, eye liner and eye shadow, powder and lip gloss. She might as well finish since she started. She added some more mascara and then put the bag away. She should definitely hurry up and get dressed before Sands came back. She looked reluctantly at her dirty clothes. It wasn't and attempting idea to put dirty clothes on a clean skin, but she didn't have much choice. Maybe she could try and wash them…

Right then the door opened and Sands stepped in.

"He didn't' have any food ready, but he–", he said closing the door, but stopped in the middle of his sentence when he turned to see her. She was standing in the middle of the room wearing nothing more than a towel.

It was a strange moment. For seconds that felt like hours they just stared at each other, until he finally blinked and turned away. Lina wrapped the towel tighter around her.

"He said he'd bring us something soon." He went to a brown paper bag she didn't remember seeing before, pulled out some clothes and threw them on the bed. For some reason he looked very unpleased. "I got you some change clothes from the town earlier."

Lina took a look at them. It was a knee length brown skirt and a white, cotton blouse.

"Get dressed while I take a shower", he said in a voice that sounded almost angry and took the other towel from the bed.

Lina didn't know if she should thank him for the clothes or not, so instead she said: "There's no hot water."

He left to the bathroom not answering anything and soon she heard the water being turn on. Quickly she put on her underwear and pulled the skirt and the blouse on. She turned to the mirror on the wall. The clothes were actually quite pretty. The blouse showed a lot of shoulder, but wasn't otherwise low-cut. She took the towel and dried her hair some more.

She sat on the bed when Sands came from the bathroom drying himself too. He wasn't wearing anything but blue jeans. She had time to register that he had a rather nice figure, before she turned her full attention to the TV-screen. He really didn't need to catch her staring at his bare chest. Even if she didn't understand much anything they were saying on the TV, it was something to keep her occupied. There was some action movie going on, dubbed in Spanish. Like she needed more of that; she seemed to have enough action in her own life.

There was a knock on the door and Sands went to open it. He came back with Raolo on his tail. Raolo was carrying a tray that he set on the table. On the tray there were two plates of roasted pork with rice and a bottle of red wine.

"Looks like you remembered what I like", Sands said approvingly.

"Compliments of the house", Raolo said and added with a grin, "and a nice bottle of wine for the lovers."

She looked at him her eyes wide. Lovers?

Sands didn't correct him and just thanked him as he left. Sands went to the tray and tasted from the other plate with a fork.

"Come have some. Raolo always cooks a mean pork."

She walked over to the table and sat down. Sands went to the bathroom again. Lina took the other plate and a fork and began eating. He was right, it was good pork. Sands came back now fully dressed and opened the wine bottle and poured some into the other glass. Before pouring into the second glass he asked if she wanted some.

She hesitated for a second but then nodded. She'd only have one glass, what was the harm.  
She tasted the wine. It had a slightly strange tinge but it wasn't bad and she drank it. They ate in silence.

Despite her earlier resolution they emptied the wine bottle. They had emptied their plates too and she starting to feel sleepy. It must've been the food and the wine.

But when she got up she felt really dizzy and barely managed to get to the bed. That was strange. She usually had a pretty good liquor head and she had only had two glasses of wine. She sat on the bed. Her head felt heavy and her vision was becoming blurry. She lifted her head and like from behind a dismal glass she saw Sands lift up the wine bottle and look at it.

"Oh shit…" he said, then dropped it to the floor and soon followed in suit.

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**R&R please!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Thank you to the reviewers once more! I tend to forget so please keep reminding me if you're interested in reading this!**

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**CHAPTER 6**

After that everything was hazy. Lina fell down on the bed and fought to keep her eyes open. Her eyelids were incredibly heavy, but she forced them to stay open when she saw two men entering the room. Their figures were all foggy and she couldn't see what they looked like, but she heard them speaking Spanish. She saw them grab Sands who was lying on the floor, apparently passed out. The other man began to drag him out of the room and the second man said something pointing to her. He came closer and foggily Lina thought she had to make a run for it, but she was too tired to even move a muscle. When she felt his hand closing around her arm, she slipped into complete darkness.

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Lina woke up to someone shaking her slightly. She opened her eyes slowly and saw Sands sitting across the room on a chair. He was awake, but it only a second for Lina to notice that his hands were tied behind his back. She also noticed they weren't in room number 7 anymore, they were now in the backroom next to the reception counter.

"Ah, sleeping beauty awakes!" she heard someone say and turned to look at the speaker. It was a fairly tall, strong build Mexican who didn't look too pleasant. Next to him was another man. He was shorter and leaner and had long, black, dirty hair that hung over his face. He had a sleeveless shirt and she saw his arms were full of tattoos. Those were the men she saw in the room, but there was a third man in the room too. It was Raulo. He was sitting by a table nearby and was smirking at Lina. She tried to move her hands but noticed they had been tied like Sands'.  
What was going on? Who were those men and what did they want?

"So gringo, you really thought you could get away with our money?" the tall man spoke to Sands. "I can assure you it won't be that easy."

Lina connected the two dots and came to the conclusion that these must have been the guys who had followed them while she was locked up in the trunk.

"But it was close though wasn't it?" Sands said in a calm tone. "If it weren't for my little friend here", he nodded toward Raulo, "I would have been long gone by tomorrow."

When he said that, Lina realized something and remembered their sudden passing out right after their dinner. "You put something in the wine!" she said accusingly to Raulo. She gave herself a mental kick in the ass for drinking the wine. Sure, what was the harm…

"Smart girl", Raulo said in a sarcastic tone. "Just my little version of a genie in a bottle. Makes you feel all nice and relaxed, doesn't it?"

She stared at him in disbelief. She had thought he and Sands were friends. Why had he done something like this?

"I'm really quite disappointed in you Raulo", Sands said. His voice stayed light like he was talking about the weather.

Raulo shrugged. "Well, like I said, business is slow. And a man needs to make a living. Nothing personal, amigo."

Lina had come to know Sands during the last days well enough to see that he was mad as hell. But he covered it nicely.  
"Alright, I admit it; you've got me", he said smiling and shrugging in defeat. "Why don't you just take the money and we'll be fair and square."

"Fair and square?" the smaller of the two men asked, "I don't think so", he said shaking his head and smiling. "I mean you won't be having the money or your pretty girl here but… I'm not quite satisfied with that." Lina's eyes widened when he pulled out a gun pointing it at Sands. All her reasonable thinking abilities just seemed to seize to exist when she was around guns.

"As a matter of fact, I don't think I'll be satisfied until I see you dead", he continued. He was standing now closer to Sands pointing the gun right to his head. Sands didn't show any signs of being intimidated. And he probably wasn't intimidated so easily. From earlier events she had gathered he was used to living on the edge of a razorblade. But she wasn't, and she was scared enough for the both of them.

"What about the girl?" Raulo's voice interrupted suddenly. "Could I keep her?"

Not believing her ears she turned to look at him and then at the tall man. He was staring at her. What did Raulo mean by keeping her?

"Si, you can keep her. Consider it a part of your reward", he then laughed. The man with the gun was looking at her now too.

Keep her? They couldn't do this! When Raulo stepped up and pulled her up on her feet, she gave a desperate look to Sands. He looked at the girl with his face un-motionless.

Lina had time to wonder if he was going to do something or just sit there and get killed, before Raulo pushed her against the table.

"Come here, beautiful. I've got you all to myself now and I promise you we'll have a good time", he said and then his lips were on her mouth. By now it was certain what his intentions concerning her were.

Lina tried to wiggle away and squeeze her mouth shut but he forced it open and sneaked his tongue inside. He tasted bad; almost like a rat had died in his mouth. His hands went to her behind and he pulled her so close that Lina could feel the bulge in his pants. She could see the other men behind him, now both laughing at her humiliation.

But while their attention was focused on the couple, Sands had somehow managed to free his hands. The man who was pointing the gun at him was now standing with his back turned to him. Quick as a panther Sands jumped up from the chair, put his arm around his throat strangling him and grabbed the gun from his hand. The other man turned around when he heard it and Sands pulled the trigger hitting him in the chest.

He fell to the ground.

Sands pushed away the guy he was strangling taking his gun and shooting him as well.  
Meanwhile, Raulo had released his hold on Lina and was making a run for it. Sands let him run a while. It was like a cat playing with a mouse, he knew he couldn't escape. Then he shot him, sinking a bullet in his leg. Raulo fell to the ground yelling from pain and grabbing his injured leg.

Lina stared horrified at the two motionless bodies on the floor. She had never seen people being killed before. Blood from the taller man's wound was spreading on the carpet, soaking into it. The other man had taken a clean shot right between his eyes.

Lina didn't even notice she had fallen on her knees while observing the slaughter.

Sands was pulling the rest of the rope off of his hands. "Bloody idiots, don't know how to tie a rope", he mumbled to no one in particular.  
Like in slow motion Lina saw the tall man laying on the ground suddenly lift his hand. He still had his gun in his hand and he was pointing it straight at Sands' back.

"Look out!" she heard herself scream.

Sands heard her warning call and turned around. He didn't have time to dodge and the bullet hit his side. He staggered back a step or two but quickly recovered his balance. The man on the floor had lowered his gun. Apparently he didn't have any strength left to shoot again. Sands gave him a murdering look and then aimed the gun at him.

"Can't you", a shot echoed, "even", he fired another shot, "die!" The man's body twitched with every bullet that penetrated his skin. Lina startled with every fired shot.

Sands gave her a quick smirk. "Thanks for the heads up, darling."  
He slowly made his way to Raulo, who now being unable to walk was trying to crawl away. He stopped when Sands pointed the gun at his face.

"Where are you going Raulo?" he said with a playful voice. "I thought you wanted the girl?"

Raulo looked up at Sands. Fear was shining from his eyes.  
"Oh no, no! Of course not! I was only… joking!" he tried to laugh, but failed miserably.

"Joking?" Sands said tilting his head to the other side "So you were joking when you were kissing and touching her?"

"Si, si! Only joking" Raulo nodded quickly.

"And I guess you were only joking too when you told those rats we were here?" Sands said pointing his head toward the dead bodies.

"No! Please, I only did it because I need the money for my family!"

"Raulo", Sands shook his head, "it's me you're talking to. You're ex-wife and kids are living with a wealthy man now, doing very well. You haven't paid one peso of child support in your life."

There was a small pause before Raulo spoke again.  
"Okay! So I needed the money for myself, alright. I'll admit it. I'm sorry! Please, please don't shoot me! We have been friends in the past…" He kept rambling on and pleading.

Sands just looked at him for a long time.

"Alright Raulo", Sands finally said. "I won't shoot you, on the account of our friendship. Unlike you, I respect my friends". It was a comment that would've made Lina raise her eyebrows, if she hadn't been so upset.

"Gracias, amigo, gracias!" A relieved look fell on Raulo's face. "God bless you!"

"Now I want the money they gave you for ratting me out and everything you have in the safe", Sands ordered.

"All?" The relief in him changed into disappointment. "But, but… that's everything I have!"

"I already said I won't shoot you. Which one do you prefer, die rich or live poor?" Sands asked raising the gun again.

"Okay, okay, I get the point!" he said quickly. "The money is behind the counter and the key to the safe is in the cash register."

"See, I knew you'd come to your senses", Sands said with a small smile and tucked his gun away.

Instead of going to the counter Sands walked to the bodies of the two men, searched their wallets and took all the money in them. Thief all the way.

Then he turned to Lina, helped her up and removed the ropes. Lina still stared at the bodies in total shock. He caught her attention by grabbing her chin and turning her face to his.

"Now, you be a good girl and go get our stuff from the room. Take it to the car and wait there." His voice was gentle, almost like he was giving simple orders to a child. "Can you do that Lina?"

Relieved that she wouldn't have to stay in the same room with the dead men, she nodded and headed to room 7. The door was open and she went in. The food tray was still on the table and the empty wine bottle was lying on the floor. Focusing a sudden anger rush on it she kicked it across the room.

As fast as possible she gathered up all their stuff and carried it to the car. She didn't even glance to the backroom that she had pass on her way out. She put the bags in the trunk suddenly remembering that it hadn't been long since she had been the one shoved in there. Now she had just helped the man who had done it? But it had been her life in stake too. She hadn't wanted to stay there with Raulo and his bad breath, had she? Maybe it was better to just do like he had said and wait in the car.

After five or so anxious minutes Sands came walking from the motel carrying a suitcase. He threw it in the trunk and sat on the driver's seat. He started the car. "Damn that suitcase is getting heavy!"

That was no wonder. He had probably gotten a nice sum from Raulo plus the money he had stolen from the men earlier. And speaking of Raulo…

"Is Raulo still alive?" she asked carefully. Sands turned to look at her.

"Yes. I said I wouldn't shoot him, didn't I?"

Lina was surprised that he was letting him get away relatively easily. He had betrayed him, and after all he didn't seem like a very forgiving man.

Lina turned to look back at the motel, and just then there was a big explosion and she screamed. The motel was blasted into a million pieces right in front of her eyes.

She gasped in horror. The building was on fire and burning debris was flying everywhere. She stared at the destruction and then turned to Sands who had a big grin on his face.

"But I never said anything about blowing up." He touched his forehead as a salute to the review mirror. "Adios, amigo."

Lina turned to face the road ahead of them. She felt a little sorry for Raulo even though he had been a real bastard. But only a little sorry. Apparently Sands had a bad effect on her.

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**R&R please!**


	7. Chapter 7

**An update is finally here!**

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They had driven for an hour when Sands started to slow down again.

"What is it?" Lina asked. Shouldn't they be putting as many miles as possible between them and the motel?

"I can't drive any further", Sands said holding his side.

His wound! He hadn't said anything about it and Lina had forgotten it in the middle of all her shock. She looked at his side that he was clutching with one hand. Even though he didn't show it, it must have really hurt. She began to quickly scan the surroundings for a good place to stop at. It was dark and hard to see, but soon she spotted a large building on the right side, a little off of the road.

"Turn there", she said pointing to it. He spun the wheel and the car turned to a sand road that led to the small building in the distance.  
When they reached it, she saw it was an old barn. There were no other buildings in sight.

"Well, better go take a look then", Sands said and opened the door and tried to get up. The pain must have been too much and he fell back against the seat and grimaced.

Lina looked at his condition and then at the barn.

"Maybe I should go and check it out? You could wait in the car", she said hesitantly.

He stared into the distance for a while and then just nodded. She opened the door and got out.

"Wait, there's a flashlight in the glove compartment."

She bent back to open it and took the light. She turned it on and pointed the light to the barn wall and spotted the door. Carefully she tried it and found it unlocked. She opened the door and was greeted with a smell of hay and horses' neighs. It was a stable of some kind. Lina stepped in and saw two horses both in their own stall. In the back of the barn there was a big pile of hay. In one corner she saw a stack of blankets. She took a few and spread them on the hay and then returned to the car.

"It's okay, we can go in", she informed Sands.

Lina watched as he managed to get his feet out of the car, but he was still sitting and leaning against the back of his seat holding his side. "I might need some help, darling."

Lina hesitated for a moment, but then bent down so he could get his hand over her shoulder. With a little struggle he stood up and they walked slowly to the barn. He wasn't a big man but when he leaned on her, he was surprisingly heavy.  
They walked over to the blankets where she then helped him to lie down.

"It's not exactly a five star hotel, but I guess beggars-"

"-can't be choosers", Sands finished her sentence.

"Right."

She noticed an old oil lamp in one corner of the barn and checked that it was usable.  
"You have a lighter or matches?" she asked Sands soon remembering that of course he did, he was a smoker.

Gladly he spared her from any wise ass comments he might have had and threw her his lighter. She lit the lamp and soon it shed its warm light into the barn.

"The first-aid kit is in the car", he said then.

"I'll get it", she said and walked back to the car. At first she couldn't find it but then she remembered to look under the seat. There it was on the floor. She bent down and reached it. When she pulled back up, she suddenly froze. She looked at the dashboard.

He had forgotten the car keys in the car.

Lina stared at them not believing her luck. All she had to do was to jump in the driver's seat, turn the car around and head back to main road. Sands couldn't stop her in the condition he was in right then. He could barely walk, let alone run. There was no way he could get to the car in time.  
Now was her chance.  
Hastily she sat down on the driver's seat and put the first-aid kit on the passenger's side. Finally Lady Luck was smiling at her. Finally she could get away.

Then for some reason she glanced at the first-aid kid next to her and it stopped her. What about him? What would happen to him? He was injured and there was nothing much he could do to help himself and it seemed there was nothing here in miles. Without help he would most likely die of blood loss.  
But there must have been some habitation near since there were those horses in the barn. He could get help, if not today, then tomorrow. Somebody would come, surely. Besides, why was she even thinking about him? Why should she care after all that he had done to her?

She grabbed the key and started to turn it.

After a moment's stillness she let out a long sigh, leaned back in the seat and closed her eyes. Who was she kidding? No matter what the man had done, she couldn't just leave him there wounded and bleeding. She couldn't live with something like that on her conscience, it just wasn't who she was.  
She let her hand drop from the key. She couldn't leave him in trouble. She took the first-aid kit and stepped out of the car.  
When she got to the barn door she stopped to look at the car once more, like asking herself if she was really sure of what she was doing. She turned and opened the barn door. She was anything but sure.

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"What took you so long?" Sands asked immediately when she stepped in, sounding openly suspicious and impatient. Some of that might have been because he was in pain.  
Lina closed the door behind her and walked to him.

"I couldn't remember where the first-aid kit was right away", she lied and kneeled down next to him looking at him for a while. She didn't know if he remembered the car keys and she wanted to get his mind off of the subject. "I… I think you have to take off the shirt for this. Can you sit up?"

"Yeah, sure."

With some trouble he sat up and began to unbutton his shirt. Lina went through the first-aid kit and took out what she thought she was going to need.

"Listen, could you help a little?"  
She looked at Sands who had now gotten the shirt half off. His hand was still in the sleeve from the injured side. She helped him get it off leaving his upper body bare. Now that she got a closer look at him, she could see that this hadn't been the first shot he had taken. There was one scar on his arm for instance, that didn't look like it had been there for very long. Then again it wasn't really very surprising with the kind of business he did.

"This might hurt", she warned when she began to clean the wound. But he didn't make a sound, the only sign of pain she saw was that his jaw tightened.

"Don't you ever show pain?" she suddenly asked. The question just came out before she had time to consider.

He looked at her slightly surprised, but then became serious again. "That's funny, I could ask you the same."

"What do you mean?" Lina asked frowning confused.

Sands seemed to consider for a while before speaking. "I'm just saying that during all this time, through everything that's happened, I haven't seen a single tear from you."

Lina snorted and then laughed. "Is that what you've expected? That I cry?"

"Well, no. But that's a typical reaction with women."

Lina thought about it for a while and then shrugged. "Maybe, but it's not typical for me. I don't cry, it's not my thing", she said shaking her head. She looked at the wound again. "The bullet didn't stay in, it went through", she said wanting to change the subject. "That's a good thing, I think." That was reason it had been bleeding so much, but at least she didn't have to start digging a bullet from him. She wasn't sure she would have been up for it.

"So it's just a scratch then", he stated casually.

"I guess you can call it that, but it's not a small one. I'll put on the bandage." Only a little uncertain of how to do it she wrapped the bandage around his waist and on the wound. All the while doing it she felt his eyes on her, making her slightly uncomfortable. She had to bend very close to him to get her arms to go around him and she could literally feel the warmth radiating from him.

When she was finished she tied it as fast as possible. Her hands were shaking just a bit and she hoped he didn't notice it. "There, that should do it."

"Thanks."

She lifted her head up and looked at him. He was still looking straight into her eyes. She turned away quickly and grabbed his shirt.

"It's okay. Do you have a clean shirt? There's blood on this", she said looking at the blood stain.

"I have one in the car."

"I'll go get it", she said getting up again.

"Are you hungry?" she heard him ask when she had reached the door.

"No, not really", she lied. Actually she was hungry, but they didn't have any food. She didn't want to trouble him with the fact.

"Funny, because I'm starving after all that action", he said in a light voice.

"Oh?" Damn, what would she think of now. "Well… we don't have any food", she said hesitantly.

"We don't?" he raised his eyebrows. "That's strange because I distinctly remember raiding Raulo's kitchen before we left."

"You did?" Lina asked both happy and surprised. "Oh, thank God!"

He smirked. "I thought you said you weren't hungry?"

"I am hungry, I just didn't want to… concern you with it." Lina averted her eyes to her feet regretting immediately saying it. He didn't have to know she cared a rat's ass about him.

Care? Did she care…?

Her thoughts trailed off and she stole a glance at him and saw he had a surprised look on his face. She slipped out of the door and went to get all the stuff from the car. The car keys were still dangling in the ignition, taunting her.

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After Lina helped Sands get on the clean shirt, they ate the bread and the meat he had confiscated from Raulo's kitchen. Once they had finished, leaving some food for the next morning, he pulled out a bottle of whiskey, apparently also fruit from the raid. She looked at it suspiciously and he guessed her thoughts.

"Don't worry", he said smiling, "I made sure this doesn't contain any un-wanted 'genies'." He took a long gulp of it and then offered it to Lina. She took some and was left with a burning mouth and throat.

"Strong stuff", she grimaced and gave the bottle back to him.

She walked to the horses that had been quietly observing their surprise visitors. The other one was chestnut color and it had a white dot on its muzzle. The second one was a black white splashed, a blue eyed kind looking thing. It was black but had a white face, belly, legs and tail. Lina noticed she was with foal. She bent down and grabbed some hay to feed to it. The horse smelled the hay in her hand, but because she was a stranger, it hesitated for a while. She let her sniff her hands and finally the mare accepted the offered hey. Lina felt its warm breath on her palm. She stroked its neck with her other hand and clearly enjoying it, the horse leaned its head on her shoulder. Lina liked the girl immediately. It reminded her of her old horse very much.

"You seem very comfortable with them", Sands suddenly said.

"We used to have horses back in the States when my mother was still alive. I'd love to have one of my own again someday", she said still massaging the horse.

"Your mother is dead?" Sands asked.

"Yes, she died a long time ago", she said in an 'I-don't-want-to-talk-about-it'-tone.

"What did she die of?" Either he didn't get her tone or chose to ignore it.

She turned to look at him. Why should she tell him and why was he even asking? "Why do you ask?"

He shrugged. "Just making conversation I guess. It's a long night, you know."

Lina looked at him suspiciously, but then thought why not. What did it matter after all if she told him.

"She had a brain tumor", she began to tell. "By the time the doctors found it, it was too late. It couldn't be operated anymore."

"I see", he said and nodded.

She patted the horse one more time and walked to sit on the blankets, but made sure to leave a distance between herself and him. She took her wallet from her purse and took out the picture she had taken from the frame while packing. She stared at it like trying to draw strength from it somehow.

"That your folks?" he asked looking at the picture too.

"Yeah, that's them."

"Your mother was very beautiful."

"Yes she was." Lina smiled at her picture. Father used to tease mother by saying they were like beauty and the beast. But that hadn't been really true, father had been a handsome man.

"You look very much like her."

She looked at him confused. Had that just been a strange way to pass a compliment? She didn't need any compliments from him so she quickly tugged the picture away and ignored his comment.

"How's the wound?" she asked.

"Oh, it's pretty good. I'll be as good as new by tomorrow."

She didn't quite buy it, but she didn't say anything. He offered the whiskey again and she took it.

"How did you know how to do all that? I mean to tie the wound properly", Sands then asked.

Lina thought for a while whether to tell him or not. She didn't know exactly what made her decide to speak.  
"I have some experience. I was 13 years old when my mother's tumor was diagnosed. Now she was probably the kindest and sweetest creature this earth has ever carried on it. She would never have hurt anyone intentionally. But the tumor, it… it affected her head, her behavior", she said and sighed. "She started having these horrible, violent rage attacks when she would just scream, kick and brake things. It was like she was someone else, another person altogether or… obsessed. Every time we saw it coming, my father and I would just try to stay out of the way and make sure she didn't hurt herself."

If he was getting impatient for her to get to the point, he didn't show it. He nodded for her to continue.

"Well, one time she had found my fathers gun that he kept in case of some sort of trouble. Anyway, she found it and she shot him with it. She'd never even held a gun before and luckily she only hit him in the leg. Father didn't want to go to a hospital. He said they'd only ask awkward questions and that we would just have to fix it at home. I of course had to help him because God knows mother couldn't do it. So he instructed me with what to do and eventually his leg was better. He walked with a slight limp for the rest of his life."

"What about your mother?" Sands asked.

"Mother? Luckily she could never remember anything after her 'blackouts'. She died a month after the incident."

He nodded in silence and took another drink from the bottle. Lina wrapped one of the blankets around her, it was getting colder.

"So you're not from Mexico?" Sands asked again after a while.

Lina shook her head. "No, I've lived most of my life in Texas, in a small town near Austin. We used to have a farm there."

"What are you doing here then?"

"It's a long story", she said.

He spread his hands. "We've got all night."

The whiskey they had been consuming during their conversation was taking effect and that might have been at least one reason why she was willing to tell him so much about her life.

"After my mother passed away, father and I stayed on the farm, trying to continue our lives. But it turned out that staying there was hard for dad. Everything there reminded him of mother until he finally couldn't take it anymore. He said he had to get away from it all. I on the other hand felt differently. To me it felt like mother was still with us somehow on that farm. It was my childhood home, I didn't know about anything else. I tried to convince my father to stay but he had made up his mind. His head couldn't be turned, he was stubborn like that", Lina said letting out a small laugh.  
"He sold the farm, the horses… everything and we came to Mexico. Mother had had this dream of opening a bakery somewhere in Mexico. She had these old recipes in her family and she wanted to share them with others.

"Why in Mexico?" Sands asked. "It would have been more profitable in the States."

"She had spent time here as a child and she always told she had loved it. She said the people here were different and she liked it. Father wanted to make her dream come true. He found a house for us from this little town and a good place for the shop and we settled down. Father loved it. He was in his element with the people and I guess he got satisfaction knowing he was making mother's dream come true. I on the other hand was somewhat miserable. I didn't like it here at all. I went to an English school so I didn't even learn the language nor did I want to. The village felt too small, there was nothing interesting there for a teenager. Father and I would fight all the time and that didn't help things. Finally we decided it might be better if I went back to Texas to stay with my mother's sister. She agreed and I packed my bags. Father stayed here with his shop, but on every vacation I came here too. I finished school in the States and got a job from there still visiting father often. Of course we missed each other sometimes, but I think we were both much happier like that."

"Is your father still in Mexico?"

Lina swallowed hard before answering. She remembered the empty store and house she had left behind. "Well actually, I'm here now because a few weeks ago I received a message that father had passed away. His health was always good, but he had a sudden heart attack. I was told he died calmly in his sleep."

"I'm sorry", Sands said quietly.

Lina was slightly surprised, she didn't think the word sorry belonged to his vocabulary. "It's alright, I like to think he's with mom now."

When Sands looked at her she hurried to add: "I know it might sound silly, but it gives me comfort. I think they're happy where ever they are."

There was a long silence. God, did she really just tell him all that? No more whiskey… But she decided she should try and ask him something in return.

"So now you practically know my life story, but how about you? What are you doing here?"

"Me? Well, I was working for the CIA here in Mexico. I wasn't too happy about my job so I had this little plan to gather up money to retire early. But I guess you could say I ran out of luck and the plan backfired badly. The government was pissed when they found out and I was left here more or less penniless and short of a job."

He could have told her he used to live on a cloud and write loves poems all day and she would have been more likely to believe that than this story. From a CIA agent to a thief? But he looked serious as he took some more whiskey.

"You worked for the CIA?" she asked still doubtful. His answer had been so unexpected that she forgot her earlier decision about the whiskey and took the bottle again.

"Yep."

"And now you're here", she said trying to make him go on.

"Yep."

Apparently he didn't want to continue and she didn't know what to say anymore. So she lied down on the blankets and stared at the dark sealing trying to absorb what he had just told her. But there was something else on her mind too. Something she had been thinking about ever since the beginning, but hadn't dared to ask. Maybe now was the time.

"Can I ask you something?" she began carefully.

"Depends on what it is", he said.

"Well, I have been thinking about this for long. Why…" she paused gathering her thoughts and finally continued. "Why am I here? I mean what do you want from me and where are we going?" She didn't have the courage to look at him after her question so she kept her eyes on the roof.

He didn't answer and she could hear him drinking. The silence stretched and stretched. Just when she thought he wasn't going to answer at all, he talked.

"Does the name Miguel Ramirez mean anything to you?"

When the name sank into her brain, she jumped right up on her feet.

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**R&R please!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Here it is, an update!**

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"Guessing from your reaction, I think it does", Sands said with a sarcastic smile.

Lina stared at him gasping. "What does he have to do with anything?"

Sands held up his hand. "Hold your horses. So, you know him?"

She had a dreadful feeling inside her. "Unfortunately I do."

"Well, go on. I'm curious", he said.

Lina squeezed her hands into fists trying to control her irritation. She could see from his face that he wasn't going to tell her anything before she had satisfied his curiosity.

"Are you going to tell me what he has to do with this if I tell you?" she insisted.

"I will, I promise." He lifted his hand like he was giving an oath.

She sighed giving up "Okay." She sat back down again. "Like I said I have been visiting my father every now and then here. The bakery started out modestly but during the years father had broadened his selection of products. He started importing; fine wines, cheese, all kinds of delicatessens. Most of the wealthier people from the town, and from other towns too, became his regular customers. The average people still came for the low-priced bread made by my mother's recipes. He was doing really well.  
About a year ago he told me about this man who had started to come there. A very wealthy, respectable man, that's how my father described him. He praised him to me every time we talked. I didn't understand why he was doing it, until came the time I met him for the first time."

She paused to remember exactly what he had looked like then.  
"I was once again visiting dad and helping him around the shop, when a car pulled in front of the shop. It was a big, black car that caught my attention. Then I could see three men getting out of it and coming toward the shop. I immediately guessed this was the man father had been talking about. The moment he stepped in from that door, I knew there was something out of ordinary with him." She paused to look at Sands and hurried to explain herself better. "Don't get me wrong; he was a good looking man. He was about your height, fit and handsome. He had his hair combed back and the clothes he wore were undoubtedly very expensive. But there was something in his eyes and in his presence, something I didn't like. His eyes were too cold and sharp. It felt like a cold wind was blowing through you when he looked at you.  
He had these two gorillas with him and I noticed that they gave a look to a woman who was shopping in the store right then. She was clearly intimidated and she just put down all her purchases and left on that second."

FL A S H B A C K

"Ahh, Mr. Ramirez! How nice of you to drop in again!" Lina's father came to greet him with a big smile on his face. They shook hands.

"Well, Mr. Evans, I have taken a liking to your little shop", he responded politely.

"You haven't met my daughter yet, have you?" Her father signaled her to come over. Lina walked to them somewhat reluctantly.

"This is my daughter, Lina", her father introduced her.

Lina forced a polite smile on her face, trying to ignore the feeling of being introduced like a prize mare. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Ramirez."

The man's eyes widened slightly and he looked at her curiously. He then took her hand and planted a kiss on it. "The pleasure is all mine. And please call me Miguel." He turned back to her father. "You didn't tell me she was so beautiful, Mr. Evans."

Lina's father looked clearly pleased. She realized he was really was trying to pair them up.

Mr. Ramirez did his shopping and Lina had to admit that he was a good customer for the store. Before leaving he sought out Lina, who had escaped to sorting some shelves. "I hope to see you again very soon, Ms. Evans."

Lina nearly shivered at the smile he gave.

E N D F L A S H B A C K

"After that he started coming to the shop regularly, even though he didn't live in the town. My father tried to play the matchmaker for us, I tried to avoid him the best I could. But for some reason, he had caught his eye on me and he didn't give up easily. He'd send me flowers, expensive gifts, jewelry… Things like that, you know", Lina shrugged. "And because I knew father would be really pleased, I even agreed to see him a couple of times, even though I wasn't really interested in him. I always felt uncomfortable around him. I had also heard these… well, rumors about him out on the town. That he hadn't made his fortune exactly honestly. That he was engaged in criminal activity. The next time I saw the woman who stormed out of the store that day I told you about, she warned me not to have anything to do with him. That he was an evil man. And she didn't have to convince me, somehow I didn't find it hard to believe.  
Suddenly Miguel asked father to have my hand in marriage. I guess he was a somewhat old fashioned man to do that. When father talked to me about I put an end to it and immediately said no. My father pleaded for me to consider it, but when I wouldn't even hear of it, he gave up. He said he wouldn't of course force me into anything and that he would tell him my answer.  
Later he told me Miguel clearly wasn't happy about my decision. He didn't come to the store anymore, which I was only pleased of. The last I heard from him was sometime after when I received flowers, two dozen roses, from him and a card that said 'I hope you will change your mind someday'."  
Lina looked at Sands determined. "That day hasn't come."

Sands seemed to be thinking because there was a long silence. Lina became impatient when he didn't speak. "Now it's your turn. You promised you'd tell me what he has to do with this", she demanded.

"So I did." He took a long drink and sighed. "Well you see, a couple of weeks ago I was contacted by a man who wanted to hire me to do a job. He had heard of my situation and thought I was the right person for this task. I agreed to a meeting and he explained what he wanted me to do. To put it shortly; I had to get this girl from some god forsaken town and bring her to him. He didn't give me a name or anything, just the address and a description. Said the less I knew about it, the better. He also said it didn't matter what it would cost or take. The only term was that she wasn't to be hurt."

It took a while before his words sink in, but when they did, Lina felt her blood getting cold.

"You mean to say that- that Miguel hired you? To get me?" she stammered. She felt like she couldn't breathe properly and she had to close her eyes. It had never been the stuff or the money that he had wanted that night he broke into the house. He had been after her all the time! And that was why he hadn't let her go.

"Apparently he had heard your father had died and thought it was the perfect time to act. Looks like I got there on the last minute, since you already had everything packed", Sands said calmly.

"But… that's crazy!" Lina almost shouted incredulously. "You can't just take people against their wish! Why would he do it? Why would YOU do it?" she asked looking at him.

"I told you I was out of a job and I didn't have any money. That can make people do crazy things sometimes."

Lina thought about what he said and suddenly a thought occurred to her. "But you have money now! You have the money from Raulo and those men." Her thoughts went even further and she got an idea. "And if you want more, I could pay you! I'll give you more than what he's paying you. I have money from selling the store and the house, you know. Then you wouldn't need his money anymore and you could just let me go!" She looked at him hopefully.

Unfortunately he didn't seem to understand the brilliance of her plan. He shook his head with a patronizing smile.  
"I couldn't do that, even if I wanted. Miguel Ramirez is a very powerful man. He has contacts everywhere in Mexico, even in the States. If I didn't keep my part of the deal, he'd have me killed. Besides, you don't have the money he's paying me."

"So you're saying that you're just going to deliver me to him, like I'm some package, and leave?" she asked aghast.

"I'm sorry, but that's probably how it's going to go down", he said calmly finally putting the whiskey bottle away. "You should get some sleep now. Tomorrow's going to be a big day. And in case you get some ideas, remember I still have my gun", he warned.

Lina stared at his turned back. She felt like she was in a weird nightmare when she lied down on the blankets next to him. It was insane. They men were treating her like she was a piece of property they could do anything they wanted to with. And Sands was just the same as Miguel; a cold hearted bastard who didn't respect anything or anyone. And to think she had had his well-being in mind for even a second.  
She grabbed the whiskey bottle, she was going to need it.

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It was no surprise that she couldn't sleep after hearing something like that. She stayed awake staring at the roof and consuming the whiskey. Sands on the other hand didn't seem to let himself be bothered by her 'little problems'. He was sound asleep.

Why hadn't she left when she had had the chance? She cursed her stupid conscience. She looked at Sands next to her.  
But he was asleep now and she didn't have any reason to worry about him. He certainly didn't care about her fate. If she could just get to the car without him waking up. The car keys were still in there and his injury would slow him down. She knew the saying about drinking and driving, and she had been drinking the whiskey, but this was an emergency if there ever was one.

She sat up carefully keeping an eye on his still figure, and when he didn't react in any way, she got up quietly. The horses had been silent and she hoped they would stay that way. The oil lamp cast her shadow on the wall and it followed behind her when she grabbed her bag and quietly walked to the door.

"Where are you going?" Sands' voice asked behind her back.

Lina froze. Busted. But maybe she could still make it.  
She turned to look at him. He was sitting up now. "I'm just stepping outside for a while. I'll be right back", she said hoping he would buy it.

Sands looked at her sharply and his eyes caught her hand. "And why would you need your bag?"

Lina looked at the bag in her hands and knew she was caught. Sands jumped up and she turned around to fumble the door open. It was strange that when you try to do something fast, you never can, especially when it's a matter of life and death. She seemed to mess an eternity with the door, but finally got it opened. Of course the alcohol might have had something to do with it too. The situation and the fresh night air sobered her up pretty effectively though.

She didn't even get to the car when he was already on her. She didn't know how he had reached her so quickly with his injury and everything, but he had once again a firm hold of her.

"Let go of me you bastard! Let go!" she screamed and managed to kick and hit him a couple of times. But it didn't help, he just became more angry and dragged her back into the barn. He had drunk quite an amount of the whiskey too but he didn't seem drunk at all. No, he was very determined. He threw her on the blankets and held her down with his body weight. He pulled out his gun and that made Lina stop her resistance.  
She realized it was useless and gave up. She closed her eyes and tried to calm her breath. It sounded like he was doing the same thing.

"Don't you remember what I said the last time you tried to run off?" he asked after his breathing was a little steadier again.

She opened her eyes and looked at him defiantly in the eyes.

"I remember. You told me you'd kill me. But even that's better than to be taken to Miguel. You'll have to kill me first to take me there." She lifted her chin. "So why don't you go ahead and just do it. Kill me." She didn't know what made her say that. She didn't want to die, but having no control of her own life was making her angry, frustrated and scared. It all felt so hopeless.

He raised the gun and she realized he might just have been pissed enough to do it, even if Miguel had told him she was not to be hurt. Lina had to close her eyes again. Maybe this was it. Maybe this was how she was going to die. In the desert and in the hands of a man who thought she was nothing but tradable goods. With her closest family gone, there weren't too many people to miss her, except for aunt Bessie. Maybe she would go where her mother and father were. Maybe she would be together with them and it wouldn't be so bad after all…

Instead of a bullet to her head, she felt a pair of lips on hers and her thoughts drifted away. He had caught her totally by surprise and she didn't realize to fight him. Or did she even want to?  
The kiss started out careful, but quickly deepened into a passionate, almost desperate one. Suddenly Lina noticed she was grabbing onto him like she was drowning. Every thought she had had disappeared and she was full of nothing but that moment. She grabbed his hair to try to pull him even closer. She didn't even realize him putting the gun away, she didn't care anymore. He tasted of whiskey and cigarettes, but in a soft, good way. Despite of the situation – or maybe just because of it - it was the best kiss she had ever had. His lips were warm and soft and his hands wandered on her body causing wonderful shivers on her skin. She wanted to get closer to him. He began to take off her blouse and she wanted to feel his skin against hers so badly.  
From somewhere far away Lina heard a creek from the door. They both stopped abruptly and turned to look to the direction of the sound.

There was a man standing in the door crack.

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The man at the door looked just as amazed as Lina imagined the two of them did. He stood there quietly for a moment and then left closing the door again. It must have been the owner of the horses, but of course she didn't know that for sure. He did look like a farmer. Sands reached for his gun, but Lina stopped him by taking his hand.

"Don't", she whispered. "Let him go. You don't have to kill everyone that comes across."

Sands looked down at her for a while. Then a small smiles rouse on his lips and he put the gun away again. His hair was hanging on his face and she lifted her hands and tucked it gently behind his ears. He was leaning on his hands and his eyes were so close to hers that she thought she could see behind them. There was a whole new world in there she hadn't seen before and she wanted to explore it.  
It was crazy. She should have hated him for what he was doing. But she found she couldn't. The feeling she had was far from hate and all she wanted him to touch her again. She could see he wanted it too.

"What's happening?" she whispered to him hoping he could give an answer.

"I don't know." He looked just as uncertain as she felt. "You want to stop?"

The question surprised her, but she didn't even have to think. She shook her head barely noticeably.

That sign was enough for him. He bent down to kiss her again and with that kiss all the uncertainty that was left was wiped away. She felt like she was melting from the inside and the blood in her veins had turned into burning hot lava.  
They peeled out of their clothes, being careful of the wound in his side, and wrapped around each other. Their shadows that repeated their every move on the wall didn't part even for a fraction of a second. His hot mouth wondered on her skin and his hands were everywhere doing magic tricks she had never known before. She trembled when he finally lifted her legs around his waist and pushed inside her. When she felt she was reaching the end, she sank her teeth in his shoulder to keep quiet. He collapsed into her arms.

They fell asleep in a tight embrace, without giving tomorrow a single thought.

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Lina woke up to find that sunlight was penetrating through the cracks on the walls shedding light into the otherwise dark barn. The oil lamp must have died during the night. Lina would have thought last night was nothing but a dream, had she not woken up right there in Sands' arms. A blanket was pulled over them. He was already awake and was looking at her. His eyes were serious.

Lina had no idea what was going to happen and she looked back at him feeling that uncertainty returning again. What was he thinking and what was he going to do? Did he regret what happened? It was too early for questions like that to race in her head.

Her heart sighed in relief when he smiled and touched her cheek gently. She wiped a lock of hair from his face.

"Morning", she said softly, but a little tentatively. How was she supposed to act like after a night like that?

"Morning", he said and kissed her. The kiss was soft and tender.  
One of the horses neighed and they both startled apart. After realizing it was just their old acquaintance saying good morning, they laughed. Lina gazed into his eyes, seeing him now in a totally different light. How could he make her feel this way?

"What do you say, we get out of here?" he said gently.

What did he mean by that? She looked for an answer in his eyes and she felt like bursting into a happy laughter when she found what she was looking for.

They got dressed and cleaned up each other's clothes; they had been lying in the hay all night after all. There was a bite mark on his right shoulder and some scratch marks in his back. Lina blushed slightly when she saw them and hoped he wouldn't see a mirror anytime soon. She changed his bandage and saw the wound had started healing nicely.

"I told you I'd be a new man", he said winking. Indeed.

Lina laughed and they gathered up the stuff, carried them to the car and said goodbye to the horses and the barn. They reached the main road again and drove ahead. Though now her mood was totally different than last night. Lina was confused, but somehow very happy and hopeful too. What had happened was amazing. This man had kidnapped her for money, treated her bad, even hit her. And now there she was; sitting next to him in the car, not wanting to be anywhere else. And after one night? She must have been out of her mind, but somehow she just knew it was right. Maybe this could all work out for the best after all.

Just then he looked at her and gave her a smile. Now that it was a real, honest smile she could see it was a very beautiful one and it lit up his whole face. He really did seem like a different man.

She felt foolish for feeling happy just because he smiled at her. She was definitely losing her marbles. Either that, or she was in love…

Her thoughts were interrupted when she noticed him looking concerned into the re-view mirror again. He had been doing that for a while.

"What is it?" she asked.

"I think we're being followed", he said shortly.

Lina took a careful look at the mirror on her own side. He was right, there was a car right behind them. It stayed persistently on their tail, clearly not trying to get pass.

"What do you think they want?" she asked concerned after a while, when the car was still behind them.

Just then they saw a car ahead of them. It was parked in the middle of the road, blocking both lanes. There was no way past it. Sands slowed down and stopped the car. He turned to look at her.

"I guess we're about to find out."

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**R&R please!**


	9. Chapter 9

**CHAPTER 9**

A man got up from the car in front of them and slowly walked to Sands' side of the car. Sands took his time rolling down the window.

Lina looked at the guy; he was a well dressed Mexican who looked even too familiar; he was one of Miguel's gorillas. She recognized him from the shop.

"Mr. Sands, Senor Ramirez sent us here to greet you and to escort you the rest of the way", he said politely but yet making clear that this was not negotiable.

Sands glances at Lina and then answered: "Well thank you, that's very…" he searched for an appropriate word, "kind of him. How did he know we were coming?"

"A friend told us you would be coming this way", the man replied still smiling.

Lina realized it had to be the farmer who had seen them. Suddenly she grew pale as she realized something. He had actually seen a little more than he had needed to. She couldn't help but wonder if he had informed Miguel of that too.

"I'm sure you are tired from your long drive", the man continued. "Perhaps you would like to join me in the other car. Pedro can drive your car behind us."

To Lina's surprise Sands didn't even try to resist it and answered: "Yeah, of course. That would be nice. It has been a long trip."

Someone opened Lina's door and held their hand out to help her out. She gave Sands a questioning look. He nodded quietly and she let the man help her out of the car.

"Right this way, Ms. Evans", he said and began to lead her to the car that had been following them.

"Now Pedro, I'm very fond of this car, so drive carefully. I wouldn't want any damage on her", she heard Sands saying to the man taking over the wheel of his car.

The other man began leading Sands to the car ahead. Lina slowed down her steps looking over her shoulder at them. She was starting to get more and more worried. How were they going to get out of this?

"This way, miss." The man was almost pulling her arm to get her to follow.

He opened the backdoor of the car and she climbed in. He went to the front seat next to the driver and soon they were following the two other cars. The men staid quiet and she had time to unwind her thoughts. This was not good. Why did Sands go with him so easily? And what was going on in that car? What were they talking about? What if that farmer had told them he had seen them kissing in that barn? What were they going to do to him, to them? Lina's imagination was flying sky high and the possibilities it came up with weren't pretty. She had to close her eyes. She didn't like it, she didn't like it at all. Why hadn't she just let him kill that guy? Their situation might have been different if she had.

After a little less than hour they pulled up in front of big iron gates. Someone came to open them and they drove in. Lina turned and watched the gates being closed again. It wasn't very encouraging; she didn't think they could just walk out of here.  
Inside the gates was a big white sand house. Or not a house, a villa, surrounded by a beautiful garden. There was a swimming pool in the front yard, filled with beautiful, turquoise colored water. The place was isolated from the rest of the world by a big stonewall. When the first car, where Sands and the other man were in, stopped in front of the building, Lina saw a man come out from the villa. She recognized him immediately. It was Miguel Ramirez.

He was dressed all in white and he approached Sands, who had gotten out of the car, and they shook hands in a very friendly manner. They talked and they were both laughing.

By that time Lina's car had pulled up too. The same man as before opened her door and led her to Sands and Ramirez. Miguel's eyes settled on her immediately and despite the sun she felt cold.

"Lina dear, how nice to see you again", he said in an almost overly sweet voice, kissing her on the hand. "I see you are looking as stunning as always."

Lina ignored him and instead stared at Sands who was standing next to him. He looked very cold and distant with his sun glasses covering his eyes again. Why was he acting like that? Didn't he understand the situation...

And suddenly she realized.

She realized the whole picture even though she didn't want to. Her mouth opened slightly and she felt like someone was squeezing her heart. He turned his eyes away and looked untouchable. He never had any intention of letting her go…

Lina felt suddenly sick and she couldn't look at him anymore, so she looked down to her feet. She felt like someone had just given her a kick in the stomach.

"Welcome to my humble home", Miguel said with no idea of the turmoil inside her. "I'm very happy to have you as my guest. I hope you will like it here." He lifted his hand to touch her face but she turned her head quickly away.

Displeased, but not wanting show it, he lowered his hand back down. Then he spoke to the man who had been escorting her. "Show Ms. Evans to her room, I'm sure she would like to freshen up after the trip." Then he pointed his words to her again. "I have some business to take care of with Mr. Sands. I will see you later, my dear."

Miguel put his hand on Sands' shoulder and began to lead him to the poolside table, talking all the time. Sands didn't even look back.

The man guided Lina into the house and upstairs. She was taken into a large room and told that everything she would need was there. When left alone, Lina took a look around. Indeed, she saw there was a bathroom with all the modern luxuries, new clothes on the bed and food and drink on the table. Everything she would need. But none of it could matter to her any less. She was numb and empty. She sat on the bed.  
All of it had been an act to him; just a way to get her here without fuss so that he could collect his reward. He hadn't really felt anything for her, it had been only a game to him, that night… just a little fun on the side.

Lina rubbed her forehead. She should have known it. Why else would his behavior have changed so suddenly? She had even wondered it herself, he had been like a different man. And now she knew why. She should have seen right through it.  
So why hadn't she? Why had she been so blind that she couldn't see what he had been doing? She had bought all of it. All. How stupid.  
And now he had completed his task, he would take his money and continue on.  
The thought almost caused her physical pain. She got up and walked to the window.

He had gotten what he wanted. And her, what did she have? She was alone, betrayed, trapped in that house with a man she didn't love. What was she supposed to do?

Just then she spotted Sands walking across the yard. He was carrying a big suitcase, undoubtedly full of cash. He walked casually toward his car.

He would be screwed if she would tell Miguel that they had slept together, she suddenly thought poisonously. But unfortunately, if she told Miguel about it, she would be in much bigger trouble.

When he was passing her window, he looked up and saw her. For some reason, unbeknownst to her, he stopped dead on his tracks and staid there looking at her. She wanted to scream at him, to shout what a bastard he was, but nothing came out of her mouth. She tried to give him the dirtiest look she could, to show him how much she truly despised him, but right then it happened. She couldn't stop it no matter how hard she tried. A single salty tear fell on her cheek and was soon followed by others. Lina looked at him standing down there, her eyes burning with silent tears.

Somehow she managed to snap out of it and leave the window. One last humiliation. She had given him her tears. Tears she didn't want to shed, tears he did not deserve.

She fell down on the bed trying to push them away. Soon she heard a car leaving the yard. He was gone. Gone for good.

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Lina had fallen asleep and when she woke it was getting dark outside again. She slowly got up and dragged herself into the bathroom. Beside her father's funeral, she didn't remember the last time she had cried, but now she had to wash her red eyes.

She stepped into the shower and let the warm water run over her. It should have felt good, but it didn't. It cleaned her skin but it didn't erase the memory of his touch. Her body still remembered and she cursed it for that. Frustrated she moved to dry herself. She chose some clothes from the bed, not really caring what she looked like.

Her hair had barely dried when there was a knock on the door and a servant entered.

"Mr. Ramirez told me to inform you that dinner is served downstairs. If you are ready, would you please follow me."

Lina had no idea how she could face Miguel, but figured there was nothing to be gained by delaying it, and followed him. He showed her to the dining hall where Miguel was waiting. He pulled out a chair for her and she sat down. The servants brought the food to the table.

"Please have some, you must be hungry", Miguel encouraged her.

She wasn't hungry, but absentmindedly picked up the fork and knife and ate. He kept up the conversation. Or actually it wasn't really a conversation; she just answered shortly yes or no or nodded. She didn't even really hear what he was saying. She was like in a trance; she spoke, she moved, she ate, but still she was somewhere else.

When they had finished their meals he asked: "Are you alright? You have barely said two words during the meal."

What did he expect her to act like after all that had happened? But then again, he didn't know everything. Lina remained quiet.

"Look, I know this was an unorthodox way of getting you here", he began apologetically, "but I was afraid I wouldn't get a chance to talk to you if I didn't do something." There was a pause. "Can you forgive me?"

Lina looked at him properly for the first time. He seemed sincere, but Sands had taught her a lesson. What he had done wasn't going to be forgotten anytime soon. And what could she say to that? She was sure she wasn't ready to forgive him.

She dodged the question and use the easiest way out. "I'm very tired, I think I should go rest."

"Of course you are tired, I understand." He looked disappointed despite his words. "Maybe I will get to enjoy your company a little more tomorrow."

Lina gave a weak smile. He called for the servant who arrived to lead her back to her room.

She wasn't really tired at all and she considered watching the TV in the corner, but she was too restless to concentrate. She looked out the window to see the night was as dark and quiet as her heart felt. She threw herself on the bed trying to shake Sands off of her mind. But when she closed her eyes, she saw his eyes.

Why couldn't he get out of her head? She hated him! Suddenly filled with anger she jumped out of the bed, grabbed the first thing that her hand caught, which happened to be a vase, and threw it into the wall. She watched it smash into hundreds of pieces, and that was exactly how she felt too. Broken.

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The night passed slowly, but during those dark hours Lina regained her mental stability again. By morning she was feeling more like a part of the world again, more like herself. Maybe the tears of yesterday had cleared her head for today.

She didn't say anything about the broken vase and the servant didn't ask, just cleaned it up. She was relieved when he told her Miguel would be out on business for most of the day. That meant she could have some time to herself and her thoughts.

She had a small breakfast before going out into the garden to get some air. Miguel had told her to make herself at home, but it didn't feel very comfortable to be under watching eyes all the time.

She wasn't blind, she had noticed his men were keeping an eye on her, but they kept their distance, maybe on his orders as well.

She had recovered from the state she was in the previous night. Or at least enough to think seriously about the situation she was in. Miguel had welcomed her as his guest, but she knew that wasn't true. He had been nice and polite, a perfect gentleman, but she hadn't been fooled by it. She wasn't a guest in the house, she was a prisoner. She couldn't leave even if she wanted to. And the worst thing was that she knew what Miguel wanted from her, although he hadn't asked for it yet. Marriage. The question was; what was she going to say when he would bring it up?

She didn't think trying to talk sense to him would solve anything. Just what he had done to get her there proved that he was out of reasons reach. She could fight him all the way, as hard as she could, but he would probably still take what he wanted and make her life miserable on the side.  
Or… She could try to give him a chance. Or at least make him think she was giving him a chance. If she could get him to trust her, he would probably cut her some slack. If she just came up with a good plan and if an opportune moment would come along she might just get away.  
There were probably too many if's in that idea, but what else could she do? She was on her own. Everyone who was left of her family was in the States, they couldn't help her. Her father was gone and he was the only one who could have done anything. Well, him and…

She didn't finish the thought. She closed her eyes to try and focus on her problem. If she tried to gain Miguel's trust, how long would it take? And more important, WHAT would it take? She would have to let him assume she was willing to marry him, that she had changed her mind about him. The problem was that he wouldn't just settle for holding her hand. She had enough experience of the opposite sex to know what they wanted.

And Miguel wanted it bad. He had just confused lust with love. She was that he didn't really love her, she was something he hadn't gotten and he was used to getting everything. Her refusal had probably hurt his delicate male ego and now he was ready to do about anything to get her. And if she wanted out of there, she would have to be ready to give him what he wanted.

The thought was quite repulsive and she wrapped her hands around herself. But it was the only way. It was her only chance and no matter how desperate it seemed, she had to take that chance, she had to. She didn't want to be a captive all her life.  
She turned around and went back inside the house.

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R&R!

I feel horrible for not updating in ages. I swore to myself that I wouldn't be one those who start a story and then don't finish it. I apologise and I promise I will finish this story, so just stick with me. Thank you to everyone who has been reminding of this by reviewing, appreciate it!

-Defina


	10. Chapter 10

**CHAPTER 1****0**

This time Lina prepared much better for dinner. Miguel had returned home earlier in the evening and had brought bags and bags of clothes for her from the finest shops in the town.  
Lina chose a beautiful dress from the ones he had brought. It was black and on the front of the bodice there were small seed beads and crystal detailing that trailed down the back all the way to the helm. The skirt was a mermaid trumpet cut. It was sexy, but it still left something to one's imagination. She didn't want to go too far with it. She put on some makeup and curled her long hair into loose curls and waves, and left it open.  
She took a final look at herself in the mirror. Funny how skin healed so much faster than the heart. The bruise Sands had given her had disappeared and her hands were almost healed. She almost didn't recognize herself. It wasn't so much the dress or anything like that, but the thought of what she was actually going to do. Could she really pull it off? She closed her eyes for a moment to gather her thoughts, and when she opened them again she saw the determination was back. There was no other way.

She still felt a little nervous sting when she saw Miguel was waiting for at the bottom of the stairs. She walked down and covered her fears with a smile.

He took her hand and kissed it. "You look exquisite." He looked nice too, but she still couldn't quite look him in the eyes without feeling uncomfortable.

They dined and this time Lina tried to concentrate and take more part in the conversation by answering with more than one or two words. The dinner went quite well even though underneath the surface Lina felt like she was ready to crumble at any time. She even managed to eat, as if this was nothing out of the ordinary. After the servants had cleaned up the table and left them, Miguel stood up and put on some music, then walked to her side.

"Would you like to dance?"

Lina took his offered hand with a wavering smile and allowed him to pull her close to him. The music was slow, beautiful. The guitar played like it was tearing the strings in her heart. She had enjoyed perhaps a little more wine than she had planned, just to soothe her nerves. Now she noticed that even the warm wine flowing in her blood wasn't helping; she was tense. She tried to relax because she didn't want Miguel to notice it.

"I'm glad you are feeling better than last night", he said breaking the silence that had lasted for some time.

Lina tried a smile again. "I am better. I was just tired before."

"Well, everything usually looks different after a well slept night", he said smiling too. "But you know, you didn't answer my question last night?"

"What question?" Lina asked and found herself stalling again.

"I asked if you would forgive me for arranging you coming here the way you did."

Lina searched for the right words. "Let's just forget about it. I'm here now and that's what matters."

He nodded clearly delighted. "You are of course right, my dear. So tell me, what do you think of the house?"

"Oh, it's very beautiful. Everything here is very beautiful", she said and she didn't even have to lie.

"I'm glad to hear you think so. Do you think you could see yourself living here?"

The conversation they had had during dining had been safe and didn't have anything to do with them or the situation. Now that he brought it up she almost froze, but forced herself to act like it was nothing.

"Honestly, I don't know", she replied looking down. In her mind she realized that all the beauty in the world wouldn't be enough for her to want to be with Miguel. She looked back up to him again. "I think I could picture myself staying here, with you", she lied fluently. "But I also think I need some time. This is all happening so fast."

He looked into her eyes and she realized he was about to kiss her. Despite her plan, she panicked and before he could kiss her, she pulled away. She walked to the table and leaned her hands to the back of a chair. She would have to get a grip on herself or this wouldn't work and everything would be ruined.

She felt his hands on her arms and he turned her around tenderly.

"I know it hasn't been easy for you, what with your father and everything", he spoke in a gentle tone, "but you know I want you. I want to marry you, I want you to be my wife. Don't turn me down."

He bent down to kiss her again. This time Lina didn't allow herself to move away. She had known this would happen and she had tried to prepare herself, but she still didn't know how to react. She tried to stay calm and just let him kiss her. He tasted her with his lips and she felt his hands go down on her waist.  
Suddenly, completely out of the blue, she remembered when Sands had kissed her. She remembered what his lips had felt like, what his kiss had felt like. That memory made Miguel's touch feel so different and… wrong. Sands' face was burning on her mind again and she quickly pulled away from Miguel's arms.

"I'm sorry, I can't", Lina said shaking her head and covered her mouth with her hand. She couldn't, because it didn't feel right. For the life of her she couldn't sell her body to a man who made her feel sick!

Miguel tried to approach her again. Lina abandoned the thought of doing what ever it was she had thought she could do to get her freedom and backed down. She realized she couldn't go through with it.

"This is because of him, isn't it?" he said suddenly in a cold voice. She could see he was getting angry.

Lina looked up at him worried. "What... what do you mean?" Fear was growing inside her; she thought she knew what he was referring to, but she tried to buy some time.

He gave her a sarcastic smile. "Don't think I don't know about your little episode with Mr. Sands."

Lina took a sharp breath. So she was right, he knew. Oh god, he knew!

He began to approach her slowly and every step that he took forward, she took backwards.

"You are a fool, my dear, if you think it meant anything to him", Miguel continued with a dangerous gleam in his eyes. "He just took advantage of your stupidity. He was more than happy to get rid of you and gladly took the money."

His words cut deeper than he probably even thought. Lina didn't want to hear them and she turned to leave. She had to get away. But she couldn't, because he grabbed her arm extremely hard and twisted it painfully behind her back pulling her close to him again.

"Don't you EVER turn your back to me, you slut!" he yelled. "We are going to get married whether you want it or not, and you can count on it that you will never see your little lover again. In fact, I know a way to make you forget about him really soon…"

Then he kissed her again, but this time in a rough manner. Lina tried to fight him but he rolled over her like a force of nature; unstoppable and merciless. His kisses moved from her lips down to her neck and his other hand closed around her breast.

"No!" Lina screamed, but it fell on deaf ears.

This was exactly what she had tried to avoid, but now in the situation there was nothing she could do. Suddenly he tore the cleavage of her dress revealing her bra. She tried to stop him by hitting him with her free hand but he was like in a craze and didn't even seem to notice it. His mouth was sucking and biting her neck and shoulders, as if a mockery of a lovers caress, and his hand wondered from her breast down her legs and began to pull her dress up. She felt his hand on her bare thigh, moving up. He was determined and aroused, she didn't think anything she could do would make him stop.  
She was paralyzed, just letting it happen.

He was suddenly interrupted when the servant came knocking on the door. He subtly cleared his throat to let them know he was in the room.

"I'm sorry senor, but there is a Mr. Lopez on the phone. He wants to talk to you and says it's urgent", he was talking like nothing strange was going on.

Lina could see Miguel was thinking, and then he let go of her, half pushing her on the floor. She fell down and bit her lip not to sob out loud.

"I'll be right there", Miguel said to his servant. "Take Ms. Evans to her room. Dinner is over for now."

Before he left, he turned to her. "Don't think this is over. I'm not finished with you yet."

Lina staid on the floor and after few seconds of steadying her breath, she began to get up. The servant took her hand to help her up, but she pushed it away. He hadn't rushed to her aid even if he had seen what was happening, so she didn't want his help now either. She held up the cleavage of her torn dress and lifted her chin up before leaving for upstairs.

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When Lina got to her room she fell straight on to the bed. She drowned her sobs to the pillow that was soon wet. Now that her tear channels had been opened, she cried for everything. She cried for what had just happened – or almost happened, she cried for her failed plan and the fact that there was no way out of her prison. She even cried for her father, and as much as she hated to admit it to herself… she cried for Sands.  
She wished he had killed her then when he had had her at gun point! That way he would have saved her from all this; from Miguel and from the feelings she had. Because no matter what she WANTED to feel, the fact still remained.

She missed him. Her hands missed his hands, her lips missed his lips. Everything in her missed everything in him.

But he didn't want her. He didn't care about her and she was a fool for feeling the way she did, just like Miguel had said.

The moon was glowing in from the window and straight on her face, knowing nothing of her troubles. She looked at it and wished she could be just as far away from here as it was.  
That was her last thought before she fell asleep.

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She had a strange dream where she was again in front of the barn where Sands and she had stayed in. She looked inside and it looked just the same as it had been. The horses were there, so was the oil lamp and the blankets. She saw someone was kneeling on them with his back to her. She walked in and he turned around. In the shadowy light she could see it was Sands, and he had blood in his hands. There was something next to him on the blankets. She looked at it more closely and saw it was a heart. Not a real heart, but a small heart shaped object, and it was bleeding.

"What is that?" she asked him shocked.

"It's your heart", he replied.

Of course she didn't believe him, but when she placed her hand on her chest she didn't feel it beating. It wasn't there! She looked at Sands.

"Give it back!"

"No", he said and just shook his head.

"But I need it! I need my heart!" Lina was starting to panic.

He smiled that beautiful smile of his. "So do I."

She tried to reach for him and the heart but they both disappeared and she fell flat on her face.  
Lina woke up. Instinctively she placed her hand on her heart and sighed in relief when she felt it was beating in its place. For a moment she had gotten a stupid fear that it wouldn't…  
But she knew immediately that it hadn't been just the dream that had woken her up. She realized that someone was in the room. And just then she felt the bed shift as that someone sat on it behind her. Her first thought was that it was Miguel and she turned so that she could see him. But before she even got a glimpse of him, he put his hand over her mouth and locked her hands against the bed turning Lina on her back. She prepared to face his piercing gaze, but the eyes she confronted weren't ice blue, they were dark and brown.

Sands.

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R&R!

I was faster this time, wasn't I? ;)


	11. Chapter 11

**CHAPTER ****11**

Sands put his finger on his lips as a sign for Lina to stay quiet. He didn't really have to do that, because she didn't think she could get a word out of her mouth. She was too shocked. She nodded and he took his hand off. Lina stared at him in the pale moonlight.

"I told you I should have shot that guy in the barn", he whispered with his trademark smirk on his face.

Was she still dreaming? This couldn't be true, but yet she could feel his weight on her. "What are you doing here? How did you get in?" she whispered so that she could barely be heard.

"Let's talk about that later", he said glancing around and getting up from the bed. "Right now we have to get out of here. Come on, get up!" he ushered when she didn't move.

Without really thinking about the situation Lina just did as he said and began looking for more practical clothes to wear. Suddenly he interrupted her search by stepping in front of her. He looked at her for a long time.

First Lina didn't realize why he was scrutinizing her, but then it dawned on her what she must have looked like. Her hair was a big mess, her eyes red, lips swollen from Miguel's brutal kisses and the front of her dress torn. She saw him bite his teeth together and clenched his fist.

"Did he…"

He couldn't seem to finish the sentence but she understood what he was trying to ask. Lina shook her head.

"No."

He nodded and she began to pull on her jeans in the darkness and change the torn dress to a shirt. She searched quickly for her purse, thinking that since it had survived with her this long, she wasn't going to leave it now.

They went to the door and Sands peaked out before they slipped into the corridor and silently hurried down the stairs, he first and her following. Instead of going to the front door, Sands led her to a different direction, to a part of the house she hadn't been to yet.  
The house was silent and dark around them. She still didn't understand how he could have gotten in without anyone noticing. She had seen with her own eyes that the place was heavily guarded.  
He led her through the kitchen and to a door at the back. He opened it, revealing stairs that led straight down. He directed her inside and pulled the door closed behind them. They were now in total darkness. They began descending the stairs very carefully. It wasn't easy due to the fact that they couldn't see anything. Also the stairs were very narrow and she had to take some support from the walls.  
The stairs took them into a small basement. The only light was coming from a little window high on the wall. So that was how he had gotten in.

"How do we get up there?" Lina asked in a hushed voice.

"Just a question of little rearranging", he said just as quietly and without any further explanations started to pile up boxes, chairs and anything he could to use as a ladder.

Meanwhile Lina took a look around. The basement was apparently used to restore what ever was needed in the kitchen. There were boxes filled with all kinds of food ingredients and also cases of alcohol. Beer, whiskey, rum, tequila, champagne… you name it, they had it.

Her eye was caught by a smaller box in the corner, a little aside from the others. Her curiosity forced her to open it a little to take a look inside. Unfortunately she didn't find anything harmless like vegetables or fruits. No, the box was full of small plastic bags containing white powder, and she didn't think it was flour. She stared at the box dumbfounded.

"Well that's interesting."

Lina almost startled when Sands' voice came right behind her shoulder. Apparently he had come to see what she was looking at with such interest.

So it was definitely drugs. She didn't want to know any more about it. Miguel was a real crook.

"You think he'd notice a few missing?" Sands asked out of the blue.

Lina turned and gave him a sharp 'are you serious?!' –look. What was wrong with the guy?

"What?" he asked innocently. She could more sense than see his grin.

She ignored him and walked past him to go to the window. He had finished the 'ladder', but it didn't look very trustworthy in her eyes. He had piled first some chairs, then some boxes on them, and finally, on the very top, one last chair. She looked at it doubtful. She didn't consider herself a pessimistic person, but there was no way that was going to last their weight or any kind of climbing. She let him know what she thought.

"Do you have any better ideas then?" Sands asked.

Lina hated to admit it, but she didn't. But still, better safe than sorry.  
"You first", she said to him.

He shrugged and went to his self-made 'climbing tree'. Despite Lina's suspicions he made it all the way to the top without falling and breaking his neck. Lina couldn't really say whether she was happy or sad about that.

He climbed out of the small window and signed with his hand for her to follow. "Your turn."

She stepped in front of the pile, took a deep breath and began to climb. The first 'level' was fairly simple, the second caused a little more effort. It was the last chair that was the most difficult.

"Come on, just a little more and you're there", he tried to encourage. The boxes were shaking under her, but that was at least partially caused by her trembling legs.

She managed to take the last step onto the chair and was very surprised when all of it held in one piece. She grabbed the window frames and began to pull herself through it. Just as her foot was about to leave the chair she felt it disappear from under her. The pile had finally lost its balance and everything went crashing down. She would have gone with it, but Sands had gotten a good hold of her from under her arms. He pulled her out and they lied silently listening if anyone had heard the commotion.

When nothing could be heard for a while, Sands decided it was safe to continue.  
He took her hand and they began to run among the trees and bushes in the garden heading to the wall surrounding the house. They reached the wall just when shouts began to echo from the darkness and flashlights started to blaze here and there. They ducked to the ground.

"Search the grounds! She can't be far!"

It was Miguel's voice. Lina assumed he had probably gone into her room, only to find she wasn't there. But what he couldn't have known was that Sands was there too.

"Shit!" I didn't think the fucks would notice so soon", Sands cursed quietly.

Lina looked at him and then at the wall. "How are we going to get over that? Fly?"

He grinned. "Not unless you've suddenly grown wings, angel. I suggest we do it the same way I came over it."

He began to creep forward along the side of the wall. She followed him wondering what was coming up next.

"You check there and I'll go here!" someone suddenly shouted not far from them. Lina only had time to make a half turn when she was tackled to the ground. She saw a man with a flashlight on the other side of the bush that they were lying next to.  
Actually, it was Lina on the ground and Sands on top of her. Her eyes wide she stared at the moving light with her head raised a little so she could see better. She felt she was shaking and Sands must have felt it too. The steps came closer and now the man with the flashlight was right in front of them on the other side. Lina held her breath. The light went just above them and he didn't spot them.

"Nothing here!" he finally shouted and left to the same direction he had come from.

Lina took a few deep breaths and rested her head down on the ground. That had been close.

"Looks like hide and seek is our game, darling", Sands said right above her with a little smile.

At that moment she realized exactly what kind of a position they were in. His body was lying heavy on hers, his face was so close she could feel his breath on her skin. It felt good, she couldn't deny that, but when he attempted to kiss her she turned her head away and pushed him off. She couldn't trust him, and she certainly wasn't going to let him hurt her again. He must have gotten her not so subtle hint, because he didn't try it again. Lina sat up and looked around. The corner of the yard they were in was empty now. The men had moved onto the other side. She turned to look at Sands.

"What now?" There was no one in hearing distance, but she whispered just in case.

"This way", he nodded to the right direction and they proceeded. Soon he stopped. Lina saw a rope coming over the wall from the other side. It was tied to harpoon looking thing that was attached firmly to the ground.

"One of the few benefits of having worked for the CIA", Sands explained before she asked.

He pulled the harpoon from the ground and started to climb up the rope seemingly effortlessly. He swung his leg on the other side and was now sitting on top of the wall. He reached his hand down and signed to Lina.

"Come on, quickly!"

She grabbed the rope and started climbing up. She noticed thinking that she hadn't climbed so much since she had painted her apartment a couple of years back, and then she had been using a sturdy – and most of all safe – ladder instead of rope and shaky boxes. And she hadn't been chased by men with guns either…  
As soon as she was close enough for him to reach her, he helped her. Lina reached the top and he lowered himself down on the other side. He got to the ground and Lina began to follow him.

"There she is!"

She heard a shout somewhere near. She turned to look and saw two men pointing their flashlights at her about 20-30 feet away. She watched paralyzed as they raised their guns, pointing at her.  
She had time to hear the guns go off before Sands pulled her to safety on the other side of the wall. He caught her, but she still fell down with an "ooff". The bullets hit the wall above them where she had been just a second ago.

"Don't shoot, you idiots!" Miguel's angry voice carried from behind the wall.

Lina looked shocked at Sands who was already on his feet. "Let's go!" he said taking her hand.  
They started running and soon Lina spotted his familiar car in the shadows of the trees. They jumped in and she looked behind them and saw to her horror that Miguel and his men had come out of the gates and were running to their direction.

"They're coming! Go, GO!" she hurried him. He stepped on the accelerator and the car lunged forward. Miguel and his men were shooting at the car, probably trying to hit the tires. For a moment Lina thought it was touch and go, but the distance between them grew quickly so that the bullets couldn't reach them anymore. They disappeared into the darkness leaving them behind.

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R&R

Another quick update for you guys. Aren't I nice:-D


	12. Chapter 12

**CHAPTER 12**

Silence fell into the car when the sound of the shots had died. Lina didn't know which direction or where they were driving so she asked. "Where are we going?"

Sands stayed quiet for a while before answering. "I know this place they won't find us from", he said lighting a cigarette and glancing to the re-view mirror every now and then to see if they were following. They weren't.

She didn't know what to say, so she didn't say anything. Now that the biggest danger was left behind and she could actually think about something other than fearing getting shot, or worse; being caught, she didn't know what to think of him or the situation. Everything had turned upside down again. He had left her there. He had taken Miguel's money and went on his way. And now he was back.

Why had he come back for her? Besides that one night in the barn, he had mostly been plain cruel to her and he had betrayed her like no one else ever had or probably ever could. He confused her and she didn't know what to think of him and his actions. He didn't seem to be anxious to explain anything to her, so they stayed in mutual silence for the rest of the way while Lina quietly wondered what this place he had talked about was.

It turned out to be an old abandoned looking house in the desert. There were hundreds of houses like that there, in the middle of nowhere; houses that people had left when moving to the cities to find work and in hopes of a better life. They were almost a sad sight.  
Sands parked the car behind the house so that it couldn't be seen from the road. He picked the lock on the door and they went in. Linas surprise was great when she saw that although the outside of the house was badly ruptured, the insides looked modern and brand new.

"What is this place?" she asked him.

"It's an old CIA hideout place", he explained closing the door behind them. "If an agent would get into trouble, he could come here, where no one would find him."

"What if someone comes here? An agent I mean?" she realized to ask as she looked around.

"No worries about that happening, darling. The man who's replaced me has just arrived so I don't think he has any reason to come here yet."

"Oh…" Lina hoped he was right. But then again, maybe a CIA-agent wouldn't be such a bad thing to appear. She would at least get some law and order around.

"We'll hide out in here and wait for the dust to settle", he said, "and when the cost is clear we can head out. But in the meantime, we can just make ourselves at home." Sands jumped on the big coach, lifted his feet up too and closed his eyes.

Lina stared at him frowning. He seemed to have it all planned, like she didn't have a say on any of it. How could he act like nothing had happened? She had been locked up in that house where he had dumped her in. He had left her there thinking he had betrayed her. She had been scared, she had thought her life was over!

And now suddenly he was back like nothing had happened at all. Didn't he realize or was it that he just didn't care?

Lina had to turn away from him. She ran her fingers through her hair feeling utter confusion and anger.

When she let her hand fall back she noticed her arm. She turned it around in front of her eyes and examined it, unknowing that Sands was watching her from the coach. Her arm was all black and blue and her wrist hurt if she bent it.. All thanks to a certain Mr. Ramirez. Then Lina remember something. She saw a mirror and walked in front of it to take a look at her neck.  
It was horrible. It was filled with red marks, some of them bite marks. She touched them carefully. It looked like some wild beast had been chewing on her. And that wasn't actually very far from the truth when she came to think about it.

Sands had come quietly behind her looking at the marks too. She noticed him from the mirror and their eyes met. His looked very serious.

"What happened?" he asked.

Lina looked at him through the mirror. "You want me to draw a picture for you?" she said loading her voice with sarcasm. "He tried to rape me, that's what happened. He knew about what happened between us in that barn and he wasn't happy, I can tell you that."

Sands went pale. "I wish I could put a bullet in that bastard", he then said and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Don't touch me!" Lina shouted and pushed his hand angrily away. She stepped away from the mirror and put some distance between them.

He looked a little surprised of her outburst. "I'm sorry-"

"You're sorry?!" Rage suddenly flashed through Lina. "And what exactly are you sorry for? About the marks? About him trying to rape me?" she shouted and suddenly couldn't control herself. "Are you sorry that you kidnapped me?! That you took my freedom and treated me like a… like a dishrag?! Are you sorry that you hit me, that you put my life in danger and let your so called friend put his dirty hands on me?" She was starting to fall out of breath because of all her yelling, but she wouldn't let it stop her now that she had gotten started. She didn't even let the tears stop her. She let all the pain she felt flow out with every angry word.

"Or are you sorry that you got me to care about you? That you made me feel something for you? Something I've never felt with anyone. Are you sorry that you made me feel like I was going to die when you left me in that place? Tell me what you're sorry for, you hateful bastard?!"

Sands looked strangely helpless and was even more pale under his tan than before. He tried to approach her, but Lina didn't want that.

"No, don't you come any closer!" Lina shouted and immediately backed up. "I think you've hurt me enough to last a lifetime. I don't need any more."

He stopped immediately and just looked at her. For a while they stood there looking at each other, Lina steadying her breath. "Darling, let me explain", he finally said in a hardly audible voice. Lina was so angry, so hurt that she wanted to hurt him too, physically hurt him. To hit and kick him until he hurt just as bad as she did. But something in his voice made her listen to him, even though she was annoyed by the "darling".

"I told you that I had my orders from Ramirez to get you", he said carefully. Remember I also told you about my situation?"

Lina barely nodded.

"Well… my morals might never have been quite up to standard, and at that time I was desperate for some cash. So I took his offer", he said and shook his shoulders. "Finding you was the easy part. The first time I saw you, you were going home. You looked sad and so vulnerable and fragile, and I remember wondering why. At the time I didn't know your father had died", he explained.  
"I hadn't understood earlier what could be so special about a girl that Ramirez would go through that kind of trouble to get her. To me you were just a way to make some money. Sure, when I saw you, I agreed that you had a beautiful face and a gorgeous body..." When he said that, he let a grin sneak on his face. But when he saw that Lina wasn't very taken by his compliment, he got serious again. "But when a little time passed, I understood there was something special about you. That you were more than just a pretty face."  
"Well, you know of course what happened after that. The whole drive was almost agonizing for me. I knew I had to deliver you to Ramirez or all hell would brake loose. On the other hand I wanted you for myself. I had a hard time keeping my hands off of you, I had to remind myself constantly that Ramirez had ordered not to touch you. That's why sometimes I was a little harsher to you than necessary. I tried to suffocate those feelings. I am a professional after all. I can't just let my emotions lead me."

Lina looked at him suspiciously. She remembered the time he had caught her in that alley, how brutal he had been. She also remembered what had happened that morning they had slept in the car. Had that been the reason why he hadn't gone any further with his passes?

"And then came the night in the barn. Believe me, I battled with myself to the last draw, but having you so close to me was too much. I gave in willingly. I felt like I couldn't get enough of you. In the morning when I woke up holding you, I knew that was the way it was supposed be. I thought; to hell with the money and to hell with Ramirez, I wasn't letting you go anymore."

Lina didn't know if she could believe what she was hearing. He behaved again so differently than before. He could talk, but was he telling the truth or was he just trying to manipulate her, and why?

"But you did let me go", she said simply. He wasn't getting out of it easily. She was going to get to the bottom of things.

"Yes, I did", he glanced at his feet. "When Ramirez's men met us on that road, I tried to think of every possible way to get out, believe me. I couldn't think of any that wouldn't include me getting gunned full of bullets once it was all over. So I thought it would be better to go with them and see if I could come up with something later."  
"When we got to the villa and I saw the place I realized there was no way we could get out of there alive. I don't know what came over me. I thought; what if I just do like I planned, deliver you to him, take the money and leave. Drive as far as I can and try to forget about you."

There was a long silence before he continued.  
"But when I saw you standing in that window, I…" He didn't seem to know what to say.

"All I wanted to do was run back to you and hold you in my arms", he said looking at her straight in the eyes. His eyes were soft, dangerously soft. Lina had to control herself so that she wouldn't drown in them.

"But I knew I couldn't' do that", he said, "so, I forced myself on the move and cooked up a plan to get you out, as fast as I could, gathering everything I needed. It was hard because all the time I thought of you in that house, alone with that man. Not knowing what he was going to do and whether I could get there before he would do it. I was ready to freak out."

While he had been talking he had silently come closer to her, and now they were only inches away. Lina tried to understand every meaning of his words. There was a pestering thought in her head, but it was too slippery, like a piece of soap that kept slipping through her fingers.

When Lina just stayed quiet he spoke again.  
"Do you believe me, Lina?"

Lina looked at Sands and just then she got a good grab on her taunting thought. "I believe…", she said, "some of it."  
He looked at her confused, so she continued.

"I believe that you wanted me. That you still want me."

Sands looked relieved, but Lina went on. "But that's not all there is to it. I wasn't the only thing you wanted", she said. "You see, I've come to know you somewhat, Mr. Sands, and I believe what you wanted was the money. Ramirez's money", she emphasized. "You wanted it so bad that you decided to risk it and leave me there. That way you could just waltz away with the cash and come and collect me later. And that's the truth, isn't it?"

He looked sad, and maybe even a little annoyed, and shook his head. "No, that's not true. I don't care about the money."

"Don't give me that. I'm not a fool", she snorted. She just couldn't trust him. He had fooled her before and she wasn't going to let him do it again. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me, her father had taught her.

"Well what the fuck can I do to make you believe me?" He threw his hands in the air. "Tell me and I'll do it."

As much as Lina would have wanted to yell back at him, she controlled herself and walked further from him. She knew it was no use to turn it into a shouting contest. To her surprise he did look like he was serious about it though, so she gave it a thought. After a while she came up with a perfect solution. She turned to him again.

"I'll believe you if you agree to give the money away", she said, "all of it. Donate it or something. It's drug money anyway, I'd like to see it being used to something good for a change."

For a while he looked like he didn't want to understand what she had said and Lina was sure that everything he had said had been just a big, fat lie.

Then he let out a long sigh. "OK", he said and then let out a small laugh. "Shit, I'll do it. If that's what you really want, I'll do it." His face softened. "I would never put you in that kind of a danger for money. Or for anything else for that matter. And I am sorry. I'm sorry about all of the things you mentioned just now. Everything, except for the feelings you might have for me. If they are true, I'll never be sorry for that."

He was serious, Lina could see that. Maybe, just maybe he was telling the truth this time.

Lina looked into his eyes and remembered again how much she had missed him when he had been gone. He had come back for her, even risking his own life doing so. He must have had some feelings for her. Maybe he did deserve a second chance.

Sands held out his hand. Lina looked at it for a hesitating moment, before taking it and letting him pull her in his arms. He held her so tight that it hurt. But she realized that even that pain felt better than any pleasure others had given her before. He rocked her in his arms and they stayed like that for a long time. Lina felt again that same closeness they had shared in the barn.  
Finally he carefully let go of her, but still held onto her arms. Lina wiped the last tears from her eyes. She let out a small laugh.

"Look at me, I'm a mess."

He touched her hair gently. "No you're not. You're beautiful, darling."

Suddenly the 'darling' didn't piss her off anymore…

She looked into his eyes and then at his lips. Suddenly she desperately needed to feel them on hers again. He must have felt the same because he came in closer again.

The moment his lips touched hers, a warmth flowed over Lina leaving behind it nothing but tenderness. Everything felt right again. Everything was going to be alright, as long as she had him and he had her.

"Well isn't this wonderful", a voice came from the door, breaking the moment.

Lina and Sands broke apart and turned to see Miguel at the door.

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Muahahhaa!! ;-) R&R!


	13. Chapter 13

**CHAPTER ****13**

Lina stared at Miguel in horror. How could he be there? How had he found the place? He was standing there with three of his men who were all armed.

Lina swallowed hard. Miguel and his gorillas stepped inside and closed the door. The three men surrounded them pointing their guns at them, while Miguel walked around looking at the place.

"Nice place you have here. Too bad the location of it is the worst kept secret in the CIA", Miguel laughed.

Lina glanced at Sands. If he was surprised, he didn't show it. He had a good poker face.

"Actually quite foolish of you to come here, Mr. Sands. Not thinking with your head, are you now?" Miguel said to Sands grinning ambiguously. He kept walking back and forth in front of them waving his gun while he talked. "But I can't really say I'm surprised. That's exactly what I would have expected from someone like you", his voice indicated detest.

Up until then he had been pointing his words to Sands, but now he turned to Lina. He pointed the gun at her and she immediately froze. That fear of guns apparently hadn't disappeared, although she had seen more guns in the last couple of weeks than during the over 20 years before it.

"But I'm very surprised of you Lina", Miguel said. "I thought you would have more sense. I was ready to give you everything you could ever think of and this is how you reward me? By running off with some CIA-reject?" He looked pissed. He almost spat out the last words to Sands and aimed the gun at him.

Sands was clearly about to say something, Lina was guessing it had something to do with the 'CIA-reject' part, but she grabbed his sleeve to stop him. She didn't think this was a good moment to start arguing with Miguel. Fortunately he understood and kept whatever he was planning to say to himself.

Miguel turned back to Lina and his face suddenly softened again. He put the gun down, smiled and touched her cheek just as gently as Sands had done before. "But lucky for you, I am a forgiving man. I'm willing to give you another chance."

Lina blinked. He was ready to forgive her. And she had been foolish enough to think it should have been the other way around! She tried to speak as calmly, but still firm, as she could. "There's nothing you can give me that I want. All I need is you to leave me…" she glanced at Sands and corrected, "us, alone. Nothing else."

The smile on his face died and he lowered his hand. He clearly hadn't expected that, let alone be pleased about it. He shook his head. There was a dangerous glow in his eyes again. For a while he looked like he was going to hit her, but then a wry smile appeared on his lips.

"You disappoint me Lina", he said. "But there's something you should know; I always get what I want, one way or another."

Lina didn't have time to think about the meaning of his words when he grabbed her and kissed her hard. Sands was ready to jump on him but was held back by the three weapons pointed at him.

"You think you could leave me Lina? You'll never leave me!"

Despite Lina's resistance he pushed her against the wall, covering her smaller frame with his.

"What do you say we give Sands here a little performance, huh?" he breathed into her ear and his hand wandered on her hip and moved on top of her jeans.

"No! No, please stop!" she begged him to stop even though she knew it was useless. His touches made her want to throw up and she could see that Sands had murder written all over his eyes. There was no way in hell she was going to let Miguel do it in front of him! She'd rather die.

"No!" she screamed again and surprised even herself when she managed to kick Miguel so he had to take a few steps back. Sands was immediately up to date with the situation and took advantage of it by pulling out his gun from out of nowhere, like it seemed.

"Lina, get down!" he shouted.

Lina did as he said and dropped to the floor. Miguel and his men were taken by surprise by the turn in the events, and with all the skills of an ex-CIA agent, Sands shot all three of Miguel's men without even blinking. They didn't even know what hit them.

Lina tried to crawl somewhere safer, away from the mayhem, but Miguel caught her and pulled her up by painfully grabbing her hair. By the time Sands had turned his attention and gun at them, Miguel already had his arm around Lina's neck and was keeping her like a shield in front him, holding the gun to her head.

"I guess I underestimated you slightly, Mr. Sands", he said between gritted teeth. "But it still looks like I have something you want."

Sands stood completely still with the gun in his hand. "Let her go", he said slowly with a low voice.

Miguel laughed. "Now why would I do that? No, if you don't want her hurt, I suggest you put your gun down."

Sands didn't move. Miguel pushed the gun harder against Lina's temple and squeezed his hand tighter around her throat. Lina whimpered.

"Now, Mr. Sands!" Miguel shouted.

Reluctantly Sands bent down and put the gun on the floor, next to the couch. Hate reeked from his gaze as he stared at Miguel.

"Now step away from it", Miguel ordered.

Sands took a few steps away from the gun and Miguel forced Lina to take a few steps forward with him.

Miguel smirked, took the gun away from her head and pointed it to Sands. "I wish I could say it has been a pleasure."

The understanding that he was going to shoot Sands struck her like a lightning, and without even planning it she sunk her elbow into his stomach. Miguel faltered a little, but the gun still went off. The sound of the gun was deafening and Lina felt like the world had suddenly gone mute. She watched Sands fall on his knees like in slow motion and she tried to reach for him. He had a surprised look on his face. He touched the shot wound on his stomach and his hand was covered in his own blood. In the middle of her panic Lina suddenly realized that the scene was exactly like in her dream. Sands on his knees, his hands tarnished in blood. Only now it was his own.  
He didn't disappear either but she still didn't reach him, because before she could get to him she was pushed from behind and she went straight into a wall. She hit it hard and fell down. The pain shot up her side and she held the arm that hit the wall. When she lifted her eyes from the ground, Miguel was standing aiming his gun again at Sands, who was now lying on the floor, too weak to even sit up. Blood was coming from his mouth and his shirt was covered with it. He looked bad.

"You stupid whore!" Miguel shouted. It was like someone had just put the sound back on and she could hear normally again. "You think you're so high and mighty, just like your father. I gave you more chances than you deserved and every time you refused me. Think what we could have had! Think!", he yelled in rage. "And now you have ruined it all. I gave you an opportunity Lina, just like I did with your father."

Lina frowned. "My father… what do you mean?" He had a wicked grin on his face that she didn't like.

"Want to hear a little secret about your father, Lina? Or rather about how he died."

Now she was totally confused. "I- I don't understand. My father died of a heart attack." She winced in pain as she tried to get into a better position.

Miguel let out a cold laugh. "Well that might be the official version but the truth is a little different. You see, I tried to talk to him. I tried to tell him both of your futures would look brighter if he could just convince you to marry me. But he declined, can you imagine!?" Miguel laughed almost madly. "Said he couldn't force you into something you didn't want. He was being very stubborn and I don't like people like that. So I killed him. I killed your father, Lina. He died praying for his own life and begging me to spare his daughter."

Lina stared at him. She couldn't believe her ears. She tried to say something but found that she couldn't form any words. All she could get out was a quiet sob.

"That's right! And I did it for you, Lina. I did it all because of you."

Lina shook her head. "No! Oh my god, no!" She was crying out loud now, crouched up against the wall. He was mad, he really was mad!

"Oh yes, Lina!" he continued mercilessly. "And now you have the front row tickets to the best show in town. You get to see me kill him." He looked at Sands again.

"Say goodbye to your little lover boy, Lina."

"I hope you rot in hell!" Sands managed to say through clenched teeth. His wound was bad and he was defenseless in front of a mad man.

Miguel laughed a little and shrugged. "Well, I guess I'll be seeing you there someday."

He aimed and the sound of the fired shot echoed off the walls like a cannon. After the sound died, a deep silence fell into the house.

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The silence seemed to last forever. It was like the time inside the house had stopped and the world outside had seized to exist.

Sands lied motionless on the floor. His eyes were closed and his mouth was slightly open. Miguel was standing next to him, the gun in his hand.  
He turned slowly to Lina.

Lina looked at him through foggy eyes. Her lips and her whole body were shaking. Miguel reached to touch his neck and his expression was extremely amazed and doubtful when he saw his hand was colored red. He stared at her like he couldn't believe his eyes. Lina looked at him over the gun in her hand, Sands' gun, her finger still on the trigger, unable to let go of it. Silently she watched the man who had killed her father fall dead on the floor.

Little by little she let her hand lower until she finally dropped the gun. Tears came washing over her like waves. She buried her face in her hands. She didn't regret killing Miguel, but still, she had just killed a living, breathing human being. She felt indescribably empty.

She lifted her head and looked around in the room. It was like a scene from a movie, except it was no movie. It was reality. It was really happening. The men on the floor were really dead and the blood coming from them was real.  
Miguel's men were lying a little further away in the room, Sands had done a good job with them.  
Miguel was lying lifeless on his stomach, the gun still in his hand. His eyes were open and his empty, dead gaze gave her the chills.

She hoped he would rot in hell too.

Then there was the last body. The only one she really cared about. The only one she was afraid to look at. There he was, on the floor in the same position as before.  
Lina crawled to him, knowing that her feet probably wouldn't carry her, and kneeled beside him. He was as pale as death and the blood on his lips was a crude contrast to his white skin. His black lashes rested against his skin. He looked so peaceful and calm, it was almost like he was only sleeping. His white shirt had changed its color to a bright red from the front.

Lina wiped away the line of blood coming from his mouth. Tears fell down her face and onto his too. She almost startled when his eyes suddenly opened. He blinked for a while and when his eyes focused on her, a smile came to his lips.

"Lina…"

His voice was weak, barely a whisper. Still, it was the most beautiful thing she had ever heard.

"Sands!"

"Hi, darling."

"I- I thought you were dead", she managed to get out from her shock filled relief.

"Not that easily." Even when fatally wounded, he pulled that 'I own the world' -smirk on. "Help me up a bit, would you?"

She helped him into a more sitting up position in her arms, since he couldn't stay up on his own. He was heavy, but it was a weight she would carry for the rest of her life if she had to. But right now, it didn't look very promising. He hadn't been in the best condition even before this wound, because of the earlier one.

"What happened to Ramirez?" he asked.

Lina glanced at Miguel's dead figure and then looked back to Sands. "He's dead. I killed him."

He looked a little surprised but then just nodded. She could see he was in great pain and growing weaker every second. She looked into his eyes; they were as dark as the night. His blood was staining her clothes, but she couldn't care less. She didn't even realize she was crying again until he spoke.

"Hey, don't cry, darling. Everything's going to be alright."

He was trying to make her feel better, she understood that, but they both knew they were running out of time. She pulled him in her arms as close as possible without hurting him. She tried to hold her tears, she had to try to stay strong for the both of them.

"Lina?"

"Yes?" she said sniffing.

It was getting difficult for him to speak and the words came out with great effort. "Please forgive me."

Lina failed miserably in holding her emotions in control when she heard those words.  
"There's nothing to forgive", she whispered, kissed his lips softly and then buried her face into his hair. She felt him take one more deep breath and then go limb in her arms.  
He was gone.

She stayed with him like that in the silent house, rocking him quietly in her arms and wetting his hair with her tears.

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	14. EpilogueChapter 14

**EPILOGUE (OR CHAPTER 26)**

_Two months later.__  
_

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The wind in Lina's home town was blowing gentle and warm. It was one those incredibly beautiful days that almost take your breath away. The sun was shining like a golden circle from a cloudless sky as she walked down the road toward the horses' pasture.

She was back at her aunt's ranch in western Texas. Aunt Bessie had welcomed her back with open arms, glad that she was back. Lina hadn't told her about anything that had happened in Mexico. She let her assume everything had gone normal and as planned on her trip. She didn't want to answer too many questions. She also didn't tell her the truth about her father's, Bessies brothers, death. She saw no reason to worry her or anyone else, it was easier for them to believe he had died of natural causes. They didn't have to be burdened by Miguel's actions. She herself just wanted to forget. Maybe time would mend some of the wounds Miguel had caused.

She reached the fence and leaned against it. She looked at the two horses on the other side; a young black filly running around the pen as care free as only a foal could be. Its mother, a black white splashed mare with blue eyes, was eating a little further away letting its offspring play around in peace.

Even though Lina hadn't told her aunt about the events in Mexico, she would soon have a big announcement to make to everyone. Because even as she stood there on the sun bathing field, she wasn't alone. There was someone with her. Someone, who would be a big part of her life, now and forever. Yes, the life inside her was still very small, but she could feel it was strong. Just like its father.

Lina looked at the foal again and she couldn't help but laugh when it did a couple of fast turns and wild leaps. It had everything it needed, nothing in the world worried it.

Lina wondered if he or she would be as wild as that one. She hoped the baby would be as happy as the young filly and enjoy and appreciate life. Everyday. She instinctively touched her stomach and smiled.

"What's so funny?"

Lina felt a pair of hands wrap around her waist from behind. She smiled even more and leaned back against the familiar body. Jeffrey rested his head on her shoulder.

"Nothing, just… thinking." She let the smile be heard from her voice. His hands moved on her flat stomach that still hid her secret from everyone. She hadn't told even him yet.

"May I ask what about?" His voice sounded teasing and Lina turned around putting her hands around his neck.

"Oh, just how happy I am", she sighed.

A wicked grin appeared on his lips. "Really? Well let's see if it's possible to make you even happier."

He bent to kiss her lips softly. He nibbled on her lower lip a little and she smiled in the middle of their kiss. She pulled away a little when she noticed something. She looked down and saw he didn't have his dressing anymore. Sands noticed her look.

"I've been to the doctor today. He finally agreed to take the little buggers off."

Lina knew he hated wearing "the damn thing", as he so eloquently referred to the bandage that had been on the shot wound. She rolled her eyes at him. "You should be happy it was only the bandage around you instead of a winding sheet or something. You know, we were really lucky that the agent replacing you was good when it came to getting into trouble. You wouldn't be standing there if it weren't for him."

She remembered back to that night at the hideout. The bodies lying all over the room, her on the floor with Jeffrey in her arms. The amazed look on the face of the CIA agent who had rushed in from the door, her trying to explain him what had happened.  
She didn't think she had made any sense though, but thank god he had recognized Sands and called help immediately. He had experience with gun shot wounds and took over the reins starting to give CPR to Jeffrey. By the time the paramedics had arrived, his heart had been beating again.

It had taken almost two months for him to recover from the injury. He of course thought he was perfectly fine already after a week, but the nurses and Lina didn't give him a chance to even think about leaving the hospital. Even when he was finally released, he still had to keep the bandages on. But now, they were history.

Sands had been credited for taking down the biggest drug lord in Mexico and was given a nice, fat reward. Jeffrey did like he had promised and Miguel's money was donated to a program designed to prevent drug use. Ironic in a way…

Jeffrey was offered a job in the States and he had accepted it. No more Mexico for either of them, they had had enough of it.

There was one thing Lina had to be grateful to Miguel for, though. After all, he did bring Jeffrey and her together. Without him, they probably would never have met. And that would have been a loss.

"I know darling, I'm only kidding", Sands said pulling her from her thoughts and closer to him again. "Well, now that I'm finally free from all strains, what do you say we go find some nice quiet little corner in the stables?" He had a wide grin on his face.

Lina grinned back just as big. "You feel like having a little re-run?" she asked raising an eyebrow, knowing he was thinking about that night in the barn too.

"With you, anytime."

He put his hand around her shoulder as they started walking back to the stables. She slipped her arm around his waist and leaned her head on him so he couldn't see her smile.

This was where the road had brought her. It might have been rocky but there was a lot still ahead. And now she was facing it with her heart full of happiness and hope, and most of all: love.

And afterwards would be the perfect time to let him in on her little secret.

**THE END**

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And there you have it, the end of the story as I promised. I apologize to all for the huuuge delay. If you can spare a minute or two, please review, and a thanks to those who have already given such nice feedback on my story. See you!


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